The Collins post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Zoar (1826), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 2,120 in 18302020 census: 5,894201 years
How historic is Collins?
B+
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Collins post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Collins’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Collins is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #509 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Collins’ overall grade.
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 Collins’ 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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Collins’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost half of its people between 1840 and 1870, then more than doubled.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Collins’ Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Collins’s post office has been open since 1825. Another post office, Zoar, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Collins
1825–today
Zoar
1826–1854
Collins Centre
1828–today
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BagdadCollins CenterTaylor HollowZoar
Gone or out of use
Collins PitmineGowanda State HospitalhospitalPoverty Hill SchoolschoolRed SchoolschoolRosenburg SchoolschoolSchool Number 3schoolSchool Number 4schoolScrabble Hill Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Collins
Pine GrovePine HillScrabble Hill
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The area was first settled by Whites in 1811. Many of the first settlers were Quakers, who intended to assist the local Native Americans. The town of Collins was formed March 6, 1821, from the town of Concord, and was named after the Collins family, a dairy farming family who lived in and were publicly active in the area. The town lost land to create the new towns of Brant in 1839 and North Collins in 1852. Because of the concentration of dairy farms, there were once ten cheese and milk factories in the town.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Collins post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Collins rank for history?
Collins is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #509 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.
How old are the homes in Collins?
46% of Collins’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1950.
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), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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