Founding year: the first Canastota post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1835.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Canastota’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Canastota is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #100 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Canastota’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 Canastota’s 183 sits above most of its state (81% of New York towns have fewer) while its 82 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% 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 (±6.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1835 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Canastota’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Canastota. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1895Chittenango sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Canastota.
On the National Register
15 listings protect 82 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
15
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
82
each building in a district counts
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Canastota, building by building, 1885–1911
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.
Kniste Stota was the historic name of Canastota, a term used by the local Oneida people, meaning "cluster of pines near still waters".
The area that makes up Canastota was once inhabited by people of the Oneida Nation, a member of the Haudenosanee confederacy. The Nation's homelands before European settlement of central New York consisted of more than six million acres from the St. Lawrence River to the Susquehanna River.
Passages that mention Canastota, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Madison County, state of New York1872Read the page →
Read the text
ed Hamilton, Madison and Oriskany in 1850; in the same year Georgetown and Pecksport were united by a road passing through West Eaton and Eaton. During the year 185 1, a plank road was laid from Morrisville to Canastota, and another from Peterboro to Clarksville was in progress. A very principal plank road extended from DcRuyter to Oneida Lake, through New Woodstock, Cazenovia, Chittenango and its depots, a distance of thirty-one miles. It
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.
Timeline
Canastota, 1603 to 1949
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born 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 Canastota post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1835.
How does Canastota rank for history?
Canastota is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #100 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.
How old are the homes in Canastota?
46% of Canastota’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1950.
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 (12), 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.
1875
1933
1933
1933
1933
1933