Founding year: the first Champlain post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Champlain’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Champlain is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns. 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 Champlain’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 Champlain’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 (±8.2 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 Champlain’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 Champlain. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1895Rouse Point 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 Champlain.
Every building
Champlain, building by building, 1884–1923
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.
Nearby Lake Champlain was an important military and trade route during the colonial period. The lake and the town were named in honor of Samuel de Champlain, who first surveyed the area in 1609. It was part of Canada until 1763 and became part of the United States in 1783.
The town was formed in 1788, the same year the county was established. In 1799, the town was reduced by the formation of the town of Chateaugay (now in Franklin County). The founding of the towns of Chazy and Mooers, in 1804, further reduced Champlain.
Passages that mention Champlain, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The tercentenary history of Canada, from Champlain to Laurier, MDCVIII-MCMVIII [microform]1908 · page 60Read the page →
Read the text
iroquois had built a huge stockade and fought behind it with great skill. It was not until the French with their firearms came and made a grand rush for the stockade that the Iroquois fied. Champlain had his first experience with arrow wounds, for one of these darts slit his ear and buried itself in his neck, but he pulled it out and resumed fighting. Champlain’s picture of this contest also deserves a place
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The tercentenary history of Canada, from Champlain to Laurier, MDCVIII-MCMVIII [microform]1908 · page 62Read the page →
Read the text
Champlain remained in France for two years, unable to perfect his plans so as to admit of his return. The savages were inconsolable without him, and never ceased afterward to apbraid him because of his absence. What brought Champlain back at length was the fever of that fabled route to Asia.
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
Champlain, 1794 to 1900
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 Champlain post office opened in 1810, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Champlain rank for history?
Champlain is more historic than 70% of U.S. towns. 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 Champlain?
38% of Champlain’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1948.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (9), 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.
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