Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns · #487 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Its Register listings are the District School Number Five and the Wood Road Metal Truss Bridge. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1914 on, and the census since 1840.
Campbell dates its founding to 1801 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1840.
More historic than 74% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Campbell is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #487 of 758 in New York. Its age 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 Campbell’s 6.4 sits near the middle of its state (39% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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 Campbell’s history is told.
Campbell’s post office has been open since 1880. Three 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).
Lost half of its people between 1870 and 1920, then grew 3-fold.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Campbell’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Campbell.
Campbell was first settled around 1801. The town was formed in 1831 from the town of Hornby.
The District School Number Five and Wood Road Metal Truss Bridge are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Campbell, cut from the printed page as they were published.
80 History of the Campbell Family Alexander Campbell was the owner of land on the west side of the Hudson in 1723 and among grants of land made at this time are found the following to members of the Campbell family : land in Albany County to Archibald Campbell in 1763; 3,000 acres of land in Washington County to Captain John Campbell in 1764; and in the same year
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
76 History of the Campbell Family went to St. Mark's parish, Orange County, between 1732 and 1741. Subsequently Patrick Campbell settled in Augusta County, Virginia. Other records of Virginia at this period show that, in 1738, surveys of land in Augusta County were had by Robert Campbell and Patrick Campbell; also that, in 1746, James Campbell was the owner of 570 acres of land
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
(Memoirs of Elder Thomas Campbell, by Alexander Campbell, of Bethany, Va., Cincinnati 1861, p. 117.) Mr. Mitchel was attentive enough to render him some degree of assistance in finding lodgings, perhaps in the house of one of his Seceder parishioners.
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 hereEdward J. Brundage is born here
Born hereRichard Edward Enright is born here
In the archiveCampbell (Township); Adrian (Village); West Campbell (Village)
Born hereThomas John Watson, Sr. is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Campbell. 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 Campbell.
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 Campbell’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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1801, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Campbell’s post office opened in 1823, and the census of 1840 counted 852 people here.
Campbell is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #487 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.
Two places: the District School Number Five (listed 2001) and the Wood Road Metal Truss Bridge (2005).
19% of Campbell’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 (4), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
1875
1875
2007
