Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns · #301 of 758 in New York. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 67 buildings. Below: 13 old photos and papers, maps from 1899 on, and the census since 1820.
Clarkson dates its founding to 1819 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1820.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clarkson is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #301 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 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 Clarkson’s 98.4 sits above most of its state (76% of New York towns have fewer) while its 67 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% 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.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1850 and 1920, then grew 4-fold.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Clarkson’s Wikipedia page.
The 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.
Clarkson’s post office has been open since 1820. Two 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Clarkson.
Matthew Clarkson was an extensive landowner in this locality, who gave 100 acres (40 ha) to the town. Clarkson was formed from the town of Murray on April 2, 1819. Clarkson was reduced to form the town of Union (the present town of Hamlin) in 1852.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Clarkson, cut from the printed page as they were published.
When I came to Clarkson, in 1815, the Ridge road was but little travelled for want of bridges; my first load of goods broke most of the bridges down from Rochester to Clarkson, and the team was obliged to return to Lima via the south road and Le Roy. That road had been opened before
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
being one of the owners of the D. S. Morgan office building, at the corner of Niagara and Pearl streets in Buffalo, and also owner of two valuable farming properties in the town of Clarkson. He
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
oped a large clientage. He is one of Monroe county's native sons, having been born in Clarkson, August 28, 1840. His father, Garrett Smith, was also a native of Clarkson, while the grandfather, Aaron G. Smith, was a native of New Jersey. The great-grandfather, Garrett Smith, was of Holland Dutch stock and was either born on this side of the water or was brought to Amer-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
When I moved into tlie country in 1811, with my family, we were ferried over the Genesee river at Rochester; the Ridge road was only cut out wide enough for a wagon track; the streams were crossed by means of loobridges. Upon the present site of Clarkson village, there were three log-houses; and in all, perhaps, thirty acres of land cleared. _ James Sayre was the Pioneer of the locality; in fact, the first settler on Ridge, in what is now Clarkson and Murray, and I think, Parma. He had selected this spot on account of a fine spring, before any thing was known of a continu-
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.
Born hereLewis A. Swift is born here
Born hereGeorge B. Selden is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveDetail of Entrance (East Elevation). - Simeon B. Jewett House, Lake and Ridge RoadsOne decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Date?Northeast Elevation. - Simeon B. Jewett House, Lake a…
Date?Rear Elevation (West). - Simeon B. Jewett House, Lake…
Date?HABS NY,28-CLAR,1- (sheet 0 of 9) - Simeon B. Jewett …
Date?HABS NY,28-CLAR,1- (sheet 1 of 9) - Simeon B. Jewett …
Date?HABS NY,28-CLAR,1- (sheet 2 of 9) - Simeon B. Jewett …
Date?HABS NY,28-CLAR,1- (sheet 3 of 9) - Simeon B. Jewett …
Date?HABS NY,28-CLAR,1- (sheet 4 of 9) - Simeon B. Jewett …
Date?HABS NY,28-CLAR,1- (sheet 5 of 9) - Simeon B. Jewett …
Date?HABS NY,28-CLAR,1- (sheet 6 of 9) - Simeon B. Jewett …
Date?HABS NY,28-CLAR,1- (sheet 7 of 9) - Simeon B. Jewett …
Date?HABS NY,28-CLAR,1- (sheet 8 of 9) - Simeon B. Jewett …Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Clarkson. 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 Clarkson.
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 Clarkson’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Clarkson’s history is told.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1819, according to Wikidata. Clarkson’s post office opened in 1820, and the census of 1820 counted 1,612 people here.
Clarkson is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #301 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.
One place: the Clarkson Corners Historic District (listed 1994).
19% of Clarkson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1988.
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 (18), the National Register of Historic Places (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.
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