Founding year: the first Caledonia post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Caledonia’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Caledonia is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Caledonia’s overall grade.
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 Caledonia’s 37.7 sits near the middle of its state (65% of New York towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
What stands out about Caledonia’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1820 and 1830, then more than doubled.
20 censuses, 1820–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Caledonia’s Wikipedia page.
Every building
Caledonia, building by building, 1897–1910
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1897Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Caledonia, 1826 to 2000
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Seneca people long occupied much of present-day western New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. They had a village in this area called "Canawaugus" (or Conawagus); it was located on the west side of the Genesee River. The site has since been absorbed by the town of Caledonia. Chief Cornplanter was born here around 1750 into the Wolf clan of his Seneca mother. His father was a Dutch fur trader, John Abeel, whose family had been established in Albany. Cornplanter was known as a statesman as well as a war chief, and he was influential in inviting Quakers to teach Seneca children on his land.
Passages that mention Caledonia, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Livingston County, New York1881 · page 448Read the page →
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On the 30th of March of that year the towns o Leicester, Batavia and Southampton were erectec from Northampton. Caledonia, which then com prised the towns of Wheatland, LeRoy, and aportior of York was included in the town of Southampton which name it bore until changed to Caledonia April 4th, 1806. In 1812 a new town was erectec from Caledonia and named Bellona, and in the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Livingston County, New York1881 · page 411Read the page →
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At the time of the first settlement here the territory now known as York was embraced in the town of Caledonia, and the settlers, chiefly from Scotland, located first at " Big Springs," now the village of Caledonia, in 1799 and 1800, and from thence branched out into the section of wilderness then called " South Woods," and now known as the town of York.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present1905 · page 908Read the page →
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Sometime before this an Associate Reformed Presbyterian church had been established in the northern part of the town, now the town of Caledonia, and these people attended services there. This church was just preparing to extend a call to John Campbell, a licentiate of the Saratoga Presbytery, which then included the Caledonia Presbytery, and the newcomers anxious to participate in this movement sent John McKercher, Jr., and James P. Stewart to represent them before the society of Caledonia and request a portion of Mr. Campbell's ser-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present1905 · page 655Read the page →
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The village of Caledonia was incorporated in May, 1891. Its first president was C. W. Blackman and its first clerk F. A. Christie. In addition to its public library and water works, which have been elsewhere noticed, the village has an excellent fire department for protection against the most dangerous element in cities and villages. It consists of two hose companies and one hook and ladder company, the last organized in 1878 and the others in 1897.
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.
By decade
Caledonia, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Caledonia post office opened in 1809, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Caledonia rank for history?
Caledonia is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Caledonia?
38% of Caledonia’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.5 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1955.
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
1892
1892
1933
1933
