Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1833.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Charlotte’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Charlotte 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 Charlotte’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 Charlotte’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 (±8.4 points). Two sources give 1809.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Charlotte’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area was first settled circa 1809. The town of Charlotte was founded in 1829 from a division of the town of Gerry. In 1900, the population was 1,406.
In April 1995, a large tire fire occurred at the Hornburg tire disposal facility located along Route 60 in Charlotte, just outside the village of Sinclairville. The fire continued to burn until July 1995 and forced the evacuation of local residents and the temporary closure of a nearby school.
Passages that mention Charlotte, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Mecklenburg County and the city of Charlotte1903 · page 9Read the page →
Read the text
(Charlotte Democrat, July 8, 1873.)* A highly intelligent gentleman, who has lived in Charlotte over fifty years, told us the other day that at a celebration in Charlotte on the 20th of May, 1835, he saw in procession seventy-five persons who were present when the Declaration was made on the 20th of May, 1775; and who testified that the meeting of the 31st of May was an adjourned one from the 20th.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Mecklenburg County and the city of Charlotte1903Read the page →
Read the text
Johnston, Colonel William, born in Lincoln County, March 5, 181 7; educated at the State University; studied law under Judge R. M. Pearson; admitted to the bar and located in Charlotte in 1842; president of the Charlotte and South Carolina Railroad in 1856; was the chief mover in the building of the Atlantic, Tennessee & Ohio Railroad, work on which was interrupted by the war ; an ardent advocate of secession; delegate to the Secession Convention;
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
Charlotte, 1809 to 1907
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1809, according to Wikidata. Charlotte’s post office opened in 1833, and the census of 1830 counted 886 people here.
How does Charlotte rank for history?
Charlotte 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 Charlotte?
38% of Charlotte’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.4 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (2), 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), 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.
