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History · Chaumont

Chaumont’s post office opened in 1806, and 62% of its homes were built before 1940

8 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1870.

1806first post office

8on the National Register

62%homes built before 1940

1old photo or paper

1famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

Photo: Stephen Schweitzer · CC BY-SA 4.0

Quick answers

How Chaumont began

When was Chaumont founded?

1806

The Chaumont post office opened in 1806, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1874.

First census: 370 in 18702020 census: 615220 years

Founding year: the first Chaumont post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1874.The full story ↓

What stands out about Chaumont’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19003 editions of the USGS map, 1900 to 1958. Watch Chaumont change.Old housesHalf of Chaumont’s homes were built before 1938.Landmarks on the Register8 places on the National Register.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Chaumont’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Chaumont’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewDexter. (Village); Dexter Business Dire…: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

On the map

Chaumont on the map, 1900 to 1958

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chaumont. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1900Clayton 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 Chaumont.

The story

How Chaumont came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Chaumont.

Read it all →

In 1750, Ray had bought the Chaumont castle (named from the Old French for "bald hill", and built in two periods around 1500) in the Loire Valley of France. (As of 2009, the village near it is called Chaumont-sur-Loire to distinguish it from the many other Chaumonts in France.) His son, known as James Leray or James Leray Chaumont, travelled to the United States and later settled there.

The first European-descended settlement of the village began in 1802, replacing an unsatisfactory site chosen the previous year. The economy of the early village was based on fishing and ship building.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Chaumont in 1854

Passages that mention Chaumont, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Your petitioner therefore humbly requests your honorable body to authorize him, by law, to make a turnpike road, from the village of Chaumont, in the town of Brownville, to the village of Cape Vincent, on the river St. Lawrence, and from the Black River, opposite the village of Watertown, to inters… — **A history of Jefferson County in the state of New York**1854 · page 321Read the page →
Read the text
Your petitioner therefore humbly requests your honorable body to authorize him, by law, to make a turnpike road, from the village of Chaumont, in the town of Brownville, to the village of Cape Vincent, on the river St. Lawrence, and from the Black River, opposite the village of Watertown, to intersect the St.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

the direction of Elisha Camp, Musgrove Evans, and Robert Mc- Dowell, or any two of them, and nothing in the act was to be construed so as to oblige Mr. Le Ray to build a bridge over Chaumont river. By an act of April 12, IS 16, Mr. Le Ray was authorized to extend the road to the village of Brownvil… — **A history of Jefferson County in the state of New York**1854 · page 203Read the page →
Read the text
the direction of Elisha Camp, Musgrove Evans, and Robert Mc- Dowell, or any two of them, and nothing in the act was to be construed so as to oblige Mr. Le Ray to build a bridge over Chaumont river. By an act of April 12, IS 16, Mr. Le Ray was authorized to extend the road to the village of Brownville, the same commissioners being appointed as before. A turnpike was accordingly built, the crossing at Chaumont being by a ferry, until 1823,
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

Chaumont, 1853 to 1900

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1853Born hereFrank W. Wheeler is born here
1864In the archiveDexter. (Village); Dexter Business Directory.; Limerick Business Directory.; Chaumont Bus…
20th century
1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey

By decade

Chaumont, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s1 item

Dexter. (Village); Dexter Business Directory.; Limerick Business Directory.; Chaumont Business Directory.; Brownville (…

1864Dexter. (Village); Dexter Business Directory.; Limeri…

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewDexter. (Village); Dexter Business Directory.; Limerick Business Directory.; Chaumont Business Directory.; Brownville (…, 1864

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Chaumont’s page.

Retake this view · +15

On the National Register

8 listings protect 44 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Chaumont, census by census

Between 370 and 738 people in every census since 1870.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Chaumont’s Wikipedia page.

Questions about Chaumont’s history

What year was Chaumont founded?

The Chaumont post office opened in 1806, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1874.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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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