Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Elkanah Watson House, a National Historic Landmark. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1820.
The Chesterfield post office opened in 1805, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Douglass (1890), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chesterfield is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Chesterfield’s 28.1 sits near the middle of its state (60% of New York towns have fewer) while its 7 listings outnumber those of 73% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Chesterfield’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chesterfield. 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 Chesterfield.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Chesterfield.
The town was formed in 1802 from part of the town of Willsboro. The early settlers were from the New England area.
Poke-O-Moonshine Mountain Fire Observation Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Chesterfield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In the eventful year 1802 the town of Chesterfield was formed, being "set off" from the town of Willsborough February 20th, making five towns in Essex County.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
of me for 100 miles was an entire wilderness. I remained in Brookfield until 1802. During that time a settlement commenced in Pleasant Valley, now Elizabethtown, also in the several towns of Chesterfield by Isaac Wright, in Jay by Nathaniel Malery, in Keene by Benjamin Payne, in Schroon by a Judge Pond. All commenced their improvements and progressed rapidly. Our roads were all to make anew. I helped look out the first road that led from Brookfield to the lake, a
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 archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - New York - Essex County - ED 16-1, ED 16-…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archivePort Kent from Lake, Lake Champlain, N.Y2 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Drag across each photo to compare.
18982010Peaked at 4,171 in 1850; 2,476 people lived here in 2020.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Chesterfield’s Wikipedia page.
Chesterfield had its own post office from 1805 to 1823. Another post office, Douglass, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Chesterfield post office opened in 1805, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Chesterfield is more historic than 83% 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.
7 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Elkanah Watson House (a National Historic Landmark since 1964), and 3 structures.
20% of Chesterfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (7), Wikipedia, 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.
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