Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns · #448 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Busti Mill, the Dr. John Lord House and the Lakewood Village Hall. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1830.
Busti dates its founding to 1811 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1830.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Busti is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #448 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
New York towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New York town has 12.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Busti’s 4.0 sits below most of its state (32% of New York towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Busti’s history is told.
Busti had its own post office from 1823 to 1907. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Busti. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Busti.
From Wikipedia’s history of Busti.
Settlement began circa 1811. The town of Busti was founded in 1823 from parts of the towns of Harmony and Ellicott. In 1900, the population was 2,192.
The Busti Mill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. The Dr. John Lord House was listed in 1991.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Busti, cut from the printed page as they were published.
First Settlers in Busti. — It is uncertain who was the first settler in Busti, or tlie date of his settlement, but the first purchases I find on record are those of Russell Dyer, lot 47, James Slade, lot 38 and Hezekiah Seymour, lot 38, T, I, R. II, in September, 1808. The original purchasers in this town were: June, 1809, J^abon Case, lot 36, T. i, R. 11 ; April, 1810, Samuel Griffith, lot 4, R. 12 ; May, 18 10, Theodore Benius, lot 12, R. 12 ; December, 1810, Jonas Lamphear, lot 48, R. 12 ; 1810, Aaron Martin, lot 44, R. 11 ; April, 1811, Lawrence Frank, lots 62-63, T. i, R. 11 ; May, 1811, Palmer
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
He was a prominent citizen. He was elected, in i8i6, supervisor of Harmony, then including Busti, and held the oflBce by reelection until the town of Busti was formed, in 1823, and including that year. He was the leader of the first Methodist class formed within the limits of the town. It was formed by Elder John Lewis ; and its original members were Palmer Phillips and Asa Smith, and their wives, John Whittam, and Joseph and Daniel Phillips sons of Palmer. Daniel became a preacher, and died at Sug&r Grove, Pa., in 1851.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Busti — Extending from Chautauqua Lake south to the Pennsylvania line and from the town of Kiantone on the east to the town of Harmony on the west, Busti contains an area of 29,152 acres, or about forty-five and onehalf square miles.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Uriah Bentley settled in what is now the town of Busti in 1810. He was a brave and sturdy pioneer, a practical cooper and blacksmith. He built in 1837 a large brick house, the first of its kind in Southern Chautauqua county. This house was the later summer residence of Fred A. Bentley, then president of the Bank of Jamestown.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereRalph Plumb is born here
Born hereGeorge Stoneman is born here
In the archiveStorum farm in Busti (1854)
In the archiveBusti (Township)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Busti’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 1,680 and 8,728 people in every census since 1830.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Busti’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1811, according to Wikidata. Busti’s post office opened in 1823, and the census of 1830 counted 1,680 people here.
Busti is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #448 of 758 in New York. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Three places: the Busti Mill (listed 1976), the Dr. John Lord House (1991) and the Lakewood Village Hall (2023).
24% of Busti’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1963.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (7), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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