Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns · #589 of 758 in New York. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1901 on, and the census since 1840.
Cheektowaga dates its founding to 1839 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1840.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cheektowaga is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #589 of 758 in New York. Its age 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 Cheektowaga’s 0.4 sits below most of its state (21% of New York towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Cheektowaga had its own post office from 1844 to 1940. Five other post offices 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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cheektowaga. 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 Cheektowaga.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveCheektowaga (Township)
In the archive1950 Census Enumeration District Maps - New York (NY) - Erie County - Cheektowaga Town - …
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveBuffalo, V. 3, Double Page Plate No. 12 (Map bounded by Delavan Ave., Broadway, William S…
Born hereLiz Johnson is born here
In the archiveFlood in Western New York January 1998From Wikipedia’s history of Cheektowaga.
Cheektowaga's earliest known historic occupants were the Iroquoian-speaking Neutral people. They were pushed out by the more powerful Seneca people, the most western of the Five Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, who were seeking to control the fur trade. They named this site as Chictawauga, meaning "land of the crabapples" in the Seneca language.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
4 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1866Cheektowaga (Township)18801950 Census Enumeration District Maps - New York (NY)…
1880Bowmansville (Village); Cheektowaga (Township)
1880Farm Res. of Godfrey Gates, Esq., Cheektowaga, N.Y.; …
1880Res. of Capt. C. W. Hurd, Elma, N.Y.; Res. of George …
1880Residence of Geo. B. Ely, Esq., Cheektowaga; Residenc…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 sheet.
1924Sheet 1 of 6Sanborn 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 Cheektowaga’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 1,137 and 113,844 people in every census since 1840.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cheektowaga’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1839, according to Wikidata. Cheektowaga’s post office opened in 1841, and the census of 1840 counted 1,137 people here.
Cheektowaga is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #589 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.
4 listings: 2 buildings, among them the Chapel of Our Lady Help of Christians (listed 1978, the first), and 2 sites.
11% of Cheektowaga’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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