History · Conewango

Conewango dates to 1823, and 30% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 66% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1905 on and the census since 1830.

1823founded

0on the National Register

30%homes built before 1940

1famous people

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Photo: Andre Carrotflower · CC BY-SA 4.0

Quick answers

How Conewango began

When was Conewango founded?

1823

Conewango dates its founding to 1823 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1830.

First census: 1,712 in 18302020 census: 1,785203 years

How historic is Conewango?

B⁺

More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1830.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Conewango’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Conewango is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns. 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 Conewango’s overall grade.

Founding era1823, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 194029.9% of homes (±6.9) · typical NY town 26.6% · U.S. 8.4%A⁻National RegisterNo listings counted · typical NY town 12.3 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C⁻

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 66%

NewerOlder

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 Conewango’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.

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 (±6.9 points). Two sources give 1823.

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 →

What stands out about Conewango’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Conewango are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Conewango, and 3 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19054 editions of the USGS map, 1905 to 1979. Watch Conewango change.Deep rootsEstablished in 1823: 203 years of Conewango.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Conewango’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Conewango’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Conewango had its own post office from 1830 to 1964. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Conewango

1830–1964

Axeville

1839–1851

Conewango Valley

1879–today

Pope

1892–1903

18301930today

Hamlets and corners on the map

AxevilleEast RandolphPope

Gone or out of use

Axville Schoolschool

3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Conewango

AxevilleLittle Clear CreekRutledge Rural

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

On the map

Conewango on the map, 1905 to 1979

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Conewango. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1905Jamestown sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Conewango.

The story

How Conewango came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Conewango.

Read it all →

The name is supposed to mean "walking slowly" in the native language, related to the slow-moving creek. The area of the town was first settled circa 1816. The Town of Conewango was established in 1823 from a part of the town of Little Valley. In 1826, part of Conewango was used to form the town of Randolph, and another part was used in 1832 to make the town of Leon.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Conewango in 1901

Passages that mention Conewango, cut from the printed page as they were published.

while on the south they find their way through the Conewango, through the Ohio and Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. The eastern branch of the Conewango which drains this region to the south has recently been straightened and deepened by state and local authorities. The Erie and the Buffalo & ■Sou… — **Historical and biographical history of the township of Dayton, Cattaraugus County, New York**1901 · page 19Read the page →
Read the text
while on the south they find their way through the Conewango, through the Ohio and Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico. The eastern branch of the Conewango which drains this region to the south has recently been straightened and deepened by state and local authorities. The Erie and the Buffalo & ■Southwestern railroads afford excellent s hipping facilities to all points. To these roads is due to a great extent the manufacturing and merchantile life of the town. They give a market for the products, and vitality and shape to the industrial energies. But the expansion of her material interests did not
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

forests by the surveyors of the Holland Land Company in 1798, for the passage of pack horses, which were employed in the transportation of supplies from boats or canoes on the Cattaraugus Creek across the highlands to the waterway of the Conewango. Probably the first road that was really laid out w… — **Historical and biographical history of the township of Dayton, Cattaraugus County, New York**1901 · page 33Read the page →
Read the text
forests by the surveyors of the Holland Land Company in 1798, for the passage of pack horses, which were employed in the transportation of supplies from boats or canoes on the Cattaraugus Creek across the highlands to the waterway of the Conewango. Probably the first road that was really laid out was the road running from South Dayton through Cottage to Perrysburg. On this there was travel as early as 1817. What is popularly known as the Jamestown road has been the principal road of the town, being to the eastern part what the other has been to the western. The roads at the present time
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.

Timeline

Conewango, 1823 to 1964

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

19th century
1823
FoundingConewango is established
1830Post officeThe Conewango post office opens
1839Post officeThe Axeville post office opens
1841Born hereWilliam G. Hills is born here
1851Post officeThe Axeville post office closes
1879Post officeThe Conewango Valley post office opens
20th century
1905On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1964Post officeThe Conewango post office closes

By decade

Conewango, decade by decade

Today2 recent

2022Late winter pastoral scenery

2015US 62 north in Conewango Valley

People over time

Conewango, census by census

Between 931 and 1,857 people in every census since 1830.

20 censuses, 1830–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Conewango’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Leon2 historic placesA EllingtonIts storyB Randolph1 historic placeA⁺Napoli1 historic placeB⁺PolandIts storyB

Questions about Conewango’s history

What year was Conewango founded?

In 1823, according to Wikidata. Conewango’s post office opened in 1830, and the census of 1830 counted 1,712 people here.

How does Conewango rank for history?

Conewango is more historic than 66% 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.

How old are the homes in Conewango?

30% of Conewango’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1974.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (2), 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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