Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 28% of U.S. towns · #728 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1790.
The Chenango post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Kattelville (1847), Glencastle (1857) and West Chenango (1870), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 28% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chenango is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #728 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 Chenango’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.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Chenango had its own post office from 1855 to 1862. Three 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Chenango’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1850 and 1920, then grew 9-fold.
22 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Chenango’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Chenango.
The area was first settled around 1787, and the Town of Chenango was established in 1791 before the formation of Broome County. It is one of the original towns of the county, from which other towns were later formed.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Chenango, cut from the printed page as they were published.
September 10, 1841, in Newark, Tioga County, N. Y. His grandfather, Andrew J. Aylsworth, was a native of Long Island and settled in Chenango County, in the town of Bainbridge, purchasing 300 acres of land, where he afterwards lived. Fie was a farmer and did much to improve this farm, clearing it and otherwise adding to its value. His
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveMap of Chenango Township, Map of Fenton Township
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chenango. 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 Chenango.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Chenango post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Chenango is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #728 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.
13% of Chenango’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 (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), 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.
