History · Copake

Copake’s post office opened in 1826, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 85% of U.S. towns · #344 of 758 in New York. What drives it

8 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 20 buildings between them. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1830.

1826first post office

8on the National Register

18%homes built before 1940

2old photos & papers

1famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Copake’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Copake began

When was Copake founded?

1826

The Copake post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, North Copake (1851), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,675 in 18302020 census: 3,346200 years

How historic is Copake?

More historic than 85% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Copake post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Copake’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Copake is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #344 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.

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Copake’s overall grade.

Founding era1826, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 194017.9% of homes (±6.0) · typical NY town 26.6% · U.S. 8.4%B⁺National Register8 listings, 28 historic buildings, 84.5 per 10,000 residents · typical NY town 12.3 · U.S. 2.4A⁻

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 85%

NewerOlder

New York towns of 2,500+ (758)Ahead of 55%

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 Copake’s 84.5 sits above most of its state (73% of New York towns have fewer) while its 28 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.0 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 Copake’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1880 and 1920, then grew 3-fold.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Copake, and 5 old place names are still on the map.Landmarks on the Register8 places on the National Register.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Copake’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

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

Retake an old viewCharyville (Village); Copake Station (V…: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

People over time

Copake, census by census

Lost a third of its people between 1880 and 1920, then grew 3-fold.

20 censuses, 1830–2020.

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

Places that used to be

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

Copake’s post office has been open since 1826. Another post office, North Copake, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Copake

1826–today

North Copake

1851–1871

West Copake

1870–today

Craryville

1871–today

Copake Falls

1910–today

18201920today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Copake FallsCopake LakeCraryvilleTaconic ShoresWest Copake

Gone or out of use

Copake Lake Seaplane Baseairport

5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Copake

CopakeNorth CopakeOld Saint Bridget'sWest CopakeWilliams

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

The story

How Copake came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Copake.

Read it all →

Copake was part of the 1686 Taconic Grant to Robert Livingston, for approximately 400 acres (1.6 km2) of good land and 2,200 acres (8.9 km2) of woodland. After it was purchased from the Indians, it turned out to be 160,000 acres (650 km2), and he established the English-style Livingston Manor. The manor extended well into what is now Massachusetts. The first lease given by Livingston in Copake was for about 85 acres (340,000 m2) in 1687, to Matthews Abraham Van Deusen. Because New England claimed ownership west to the Hudson River, a border dispute broke out. The Massachusetts Bay Colony laid out three townships west of the Taconic Mountains in 1755. Most of the present town of Copake was in one of the townships. New settlers were given 100 acres (0.40 km2) free, and some of Livingston's tenants refused to pay rent. The border was settled in 1757 by the Lords Commissioners of Trade in …

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Copake, 1878–1883

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

man emigrants, who were induced by the proprietor of the manor to lease farms from him. On a map published by Beatty, in 1714, the residences of families named VVitbeck, Class, and Brusie are located near Copake creek, but one of these, at least (the Whitbecks), was located in the present town of C… — **History of Columbia County, New York. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers**1878 · page 396Read the page →
Read the text
man emigrants, who were induced by the proprietor of the manor to lease farms from him. On a map published by Beatty, in 1714, the residences of families named VVitbeck, Class, and Brusie are located near Copake creek, but one of these, at least (the Whitbecks), was located in the present town of Copake. The general settlement of this part of the manor did not take place until several years later,- — • probably about 1750,- — -though from the meagre records
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

The Rhinebeck and Connecticut railroad runs a distance of three and a quarter miles through the south part of the town. Copake Station, a half-mile south of Copake Flats, is the only station. The early settlers of this town were almost entirely of Dutch and German ancestry, and settled along the co… — **History of Columbia County, New York. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers**1878 · page 388Read the page →
Read the text
The Rhinebeck and Connecticut railroad runs a distance of three and a quarter miles through the south part of the town. Copake Station, a half-mile south of Copake Flats, is the only station. The early settlers of this town were almost entirely of Dutch and German ancestry, and settled along the course of the creeks or the shores of the lakes and ponds. No doubt a few of them settled here some years before the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

**A history of Hillsdale, Columbia County, New York**1883 · page 27Read the page →
Read the text
George Birdsall was a distinguished physician and resided for a time in what is now the town of Copake. One of the kindred was a military officer and was assassinated at Greenbush. The daughters of Benjamin Bird-
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

Copake, 1826 to 2010

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

19th century
1826Post officeThe Copake post office opens
1851Post officeThe North Copake post office opens
1853Born hereKatharine Lent Stevenson is born here
1870Post officeThe West Copake post office opens
1871Post officeThe North Copake post office closes
1873In the archiveCharyville (Village); Copake Station (Village); Copake Flats (Village); Gallatinville (Vi…
1892BuiltCopake Falls Methodist Episcopal Church is built
20th century
1902On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1909In the archiveHolsapple House
21st century
2010CensusPopulation peaks at 3,615

By decade

Copake, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s–1900s2 items

Charyville (Village); Copake Station (Village); Copake Flats (Village); Gallatinville (Village); Copake Business Notice…

1873Charyville (Village); Copake Station (Village); Copak…

1909Holsapple House

1910s–1990snothing yet

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.

Add from your album

On the map

Copake on the map, 1902 to 1953

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

1902Copake 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 Copake.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewCharyville (Village); Copake Station (Village); Copake Flats (Village); Gallatinville (Village); Copake Business Notice…, 1873

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Copake’s page.

Retake this view · +15

On the National Register

8 listings protect 28 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1995

Church of St. John in the Wilderness

BuildingsDistrictsSites

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival2

Gothic Revival1

Picturesque1

Vernacular1

Architecture1

Social History1

Church of St. John in the WildernessGothic Revival

Copake Iron Works Historic DistrictGreek Revival

Copake Memorial ClockArchitecture

All 8 listings

Copake Grange HallBuilding · listed 2001 Copake United Methodist Church and Copake CemeteryBuilding · listed 2007 Copake Falls Methodist Episcopal ChurchBuilding · listed 2012 Sweet-Sherman HomesteadDistrict · listed 2022 Copake Railroad DepotBuilding · listed 2024

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Hillsdale6 historic placesA⁺Taghkanic1 historic placeA Ancram5 historic placesA

Questions about Copake’s history

What year was Copake founded?

The Copake post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Copake rank for history?

Copake is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #344 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.

What is on the National Register in Copake?

8 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Church of St. John in the Wilderness (listed 1995, the first), 2 historic districts, the Copake Iron Works Historic District and the Sweet-Sherman Homestead, with 20 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 28 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Copake?

18% of Copake’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1970.

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 (22), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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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