Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns · #443 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Hiram Hubbard House. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1820.
Champion dates its founding to 1800 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1820.
More historic than 78% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Champion is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #443 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 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 Champion’s 2.2 sits below most of its state (26% of New York towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Champion’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereStephen Mattoon is born here
Born hereVivus Wright Dorwin is born here
Born hereGeorge E. Spencer is born here
Born hereEllen Alida Rose is born here
In the archiveChampion. (Township)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Champion.
Settlement began around 1798. Henry Champion purchased the lands and sent his surveyor Noadiah Hubbard to the land. Hubbard settled in the area where his homestead still exists today.
The town was the birthplace of George E. Spencer (1836-1893), a Union general in the Civil War who later served two terms as a U.S. senator from Alabama.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Champion. 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 Champion.
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 Champion’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.
Between 2,080 and 4,574 people in every census since 1820.
20 censuses, 1820–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Champion’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Champion had its own post office from 1804 to 1900. Another post office, South Champion, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1800, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Champion’s post office opened in 1804, and the census of 1820 counted 2,080 people here.
Champion is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #443 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.
One place: the Hiram Hubbard House (listed 2009).
32% of Champion’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1864
Date?