The Carlton post office opened in 1831, the earliest record of the town by name. Nine smaller post offices, Oak Orchard (1816), East Carlton (1835) and Kenyonville (1863), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,168 in 18302020 census: 2,835195 years
How historic is Carlton?
B+
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Carlton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Carlton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Carlton is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #505 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Carlton’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 Carlton’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (10% of New York towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.1 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 Carlton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Carlton had its own post office from 1831 to 1935. Nine other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Oak Orchard
1816–1904
Carlton
1831–1935
East Carlton
1835–1894
Waterport
1845–today
Kenyonville
1863–1903
Kuckville
1865–1904
Carlyon
1876–1907
Carlton Station
1877–1919
Point Breeze
1888–1914
Sawyer
1888–1902
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Baldwin CornerJones BeachKentKenyonvilleKuckvilleLakesideLakeside ParkPoint BreezeRock Ledge BeachSawyerSunset BeachToms LandingWaterportWaterport Station
Gone or out of use
School Number 11schoolSchool Number 12schoolSchool Number 13schoolSchool Number 14schoolSchool Number 15schoolSchool Number 16schoolSchool Number 4schoolSchool Number 6school
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Carlton
BrownCarltonFullerKentKenyonvilleWaterport
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Carlton’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Carlton’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The Town of Carlton was formed from the towns of Gaines and Ridgeway in 1822 and was then known as the "Town of Oak Orchard". It was renamed as "Carlton" in 1825.
On July 27, 1883, Illinois politician Thomas Hoyne died in a railroad accident which took place outside of the hamlet of Carlton Station. He was subsequently buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.
On September 1, 2010, five teenagers were charged with disrupting religious services at the World Sufi Foundation mosque located in Carlton. The teenagers were accused of discharging a firearm, yelling obscenities, and hitting a mosque attendee with a car.
Passages that mention Carlton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Pioneer history of Orleans County, New York1871 · page 192Read the page →
Read the text
In March 1821, he joined the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he was ever after a prominent member. He helped to form the first religious class in his church in the town of Carlton, and was its leader. In 1825 he organized and taught the first Sunday School in the county north of the Ridge. In April, 1829, he was licensed to exhort, in 1833 he was licensed to preach, and in 1837 he was ordained
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Pioneer history of Orleans County, New York1871 · page 67Read the page →
Read the text
As the first settlement of the county began on the lake shore in Carlton, and gradually extended along the Ridge Road, so religious meetings were held first in Carlton.
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
Carlton, 1816 to 1935
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Carlton post office opened in 1831, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Carlton rank for history?
Carlton is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #505 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 Carlton?
48% of Carlton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1947.
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 (18), Wikipedia, 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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