Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns · #127 of 758 in New York. What drives it
10 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 158 buildings between them. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1870.
Cortland dates its founding to 1791 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cortland is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #127 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age 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 Cortland’s 96.8 sits above most of its state (75% of New York towns have fewer) while its 169 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% 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.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1884Sheet 1 of 5Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cortland. 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 Cortland.
From Wikipedia’s history of Cortland.
The city is within the former Central New York Military Tract. It is named after Pierre Van Cortlandt, the first lieutenant governor of New York.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Cortland, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Cortland Village was incorporated November 5, 1853, under the act passed in 1841, providing for the procurement of village incorporations by an order from the Court of Sessions and a vote of the citizens.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Cortland county was made to form a part of the Western Senatorial District, and part of the Thirteenth Congressional District, and was entitled to one member of Assembly, and so continued to be up to 1823, when Daniel Sherwood and John Gillett were elected. By a change of Representation, in 1846, Cortland was reduced to one member, and in 1847 Timothy Green was elected to a seat in the Assembly. Ephraim Fish, the
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 hereGideon C. Moody is born here
Born hereAlton B. Parker is born here
Born hereDavid Eugene Smith is born here
In the archiveCortland, N.Y
BuiltWilliam J. Greenman House is built
In the archiveHugh C. Leighton Co. - Main Street, Cortland, New York back
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveHugh C. Leighton Co. 1777 - Cortland, New York, Tompkins Street back3 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1894Cortland, N.Y1900sHugh C. Leighton Co. - Main Street, Cortland, New Yor…Postcard
c. 1906Hugh C. Leighton Co. - Main Street, Cortland, New Yor…Postcardc. 1910Hugh C. Leighton Co. 1777 - Cortland, New York, Tompk…Postcard
c. 1910Hugh C. Leighton Co. 1777 - Cortland, New York, Tompk…Postcard
1917Liberty Bonds - Parades - Victory Loan - WAR ACTIVITI…
1917Liberty Bonds - Parades - Victory Loan - WAR ACTIVITI…
1917Liberty Bonds - Parades - Victory Loan - WAR ACTIVITI…
1917Liberty Bonds - Parades - Victory Loan - WAR ACTIVITI…
1917Liberty Bonds - Parades - Victory Loan - WAR ACTIVITI…
1917Liberty Bonds - Parades - Victory Loan - WAR ACTIVITI…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 Cortland’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 3,066 and 20,138 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Cortland’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Cortland’s post office has been open since 1880.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1791, according to Wikidata. Cortland’s post office opened in 1880, and the census of 1870 counted 3,066 people here.
Cortland is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #127 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.
10 listings: 9 buildings, among them the Cortland Fire Headquarters (listed 1974, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Tompkins Street Historic District and the Tompkins Street/Main Street Historic District, with 158 contributing buildings. 169 historic buildings in all.
42% of Cortland’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1947.
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 (11), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (11), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
