Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1860.
The Cassadaga post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1848.
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 Cassadaga’s history is told.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…
Date?Newton Memorial Hospital, Children's Pavilion, Termin…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cassadaga. 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 Cassadaga.
From Wikipedia’s history of Cassadaga.
Cassadaga is a Seneca name meaning 'water under the rocks', descriptive of the natural springs of the area flowing from glacial moraines. In dry weather, many of the local streams "disappear", and the spring-fed water runs wholly within the gravelly bottoms of the stream beds draining from the surrounding hills.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Cassadaga, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The scenery at Cassadaga Lake is inexpressibly beautiful and fascinating and in its pure free air a sanitarium has been established. The waters of Bear and Cassadaga lakes are well stocked with fish and a large deposit of shell marl underlies the ancient bed of Cassadaga Lake. The Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley & Pittsburgh railroad traverses the town with stations
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Hill Turnpike Company was incorporated in this year for the purpose of construeling a turnpike road between Westfield and Nettle Hill. Upon the supposition that the New York <S: Erie Railroad would be constructed along the valleN' of Cassadaga creek to Cassadaga lake, and thence desceud the northern face of the Ridge to Dunkirk, a charter was granted for its construction from a point near the junction of the Cassadaga creek with the Chautauqua outlet, through the village of Jamestown, westwardly to the western boundary of the state in the direction of Erie in Pa." A company
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Cassadaga village possesses a splendid graded school, good churches, several business houses, and is a beautiful restful summer resort. It lies on the borders of Cassadaga lake, near Cassadaga station, on the D. A. V. & P. R.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1804 Kennedy and Work bought of the Holland Land Company land on both sides of the Cassadaga below Dexterville, also a tract of valuable timber land east of the Cassadaga and Levant along the Kennedy road. In 1808 they opened a road from Kennedy's mills to Work's mills, and building the first bridge across the Cassadaga, about one-fourth of a
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.
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.
1904Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Cassadaga’s page.
Retake this view · +15Peaked at 905 in 1970; 573 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cassadaga’s Wikipedia page.
The Cassadaga post office opened in 1838, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1848.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (18), 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.
1867
