The Croghan post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Belfort (1832), Indian River (1840) and Monterey (1846), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,135 in 18502020 census: 3,197184 years
How historic is Croghan?
A
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Croghan post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Croghan’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Croghan is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #290 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 National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Croghan’s 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 Croghan’s 24.9 sits near the middle of its state (59% of New York towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.2 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 Croghan’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Henry SchoolschoolMonnatt SchoolschoolSchool Number 11schoolSchool Number 14schoolSchool Number 5schoolSweet SchoolschoolSwiss Road SchoolschoolTexas Road SchoolschoolWisner Schoolschool
6cemeteries and burying grounds inside Croghan
BasselinBeaver Falls NewBeaver Falls OldSaint StephensSunnysideUnion Cemetery of Naumburg
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
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Start Croghan’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Croghan’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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.
The southwestern part of the town was the locale of an ill-fated colony of refugees from the French Revolution. The settlements were disbanded by 1814. Modern settlement began circa 1830.
The town was formed in 1841 from the towns of Watson and Diana. In 1848, part of the town was used to help form New Bremen.
Theodore B. Basselin played a large part in Croghan's history. Mr. Basselin came to America and settled in Croghan, where he became the town's first millionaire due to his successful logging business. He was one of the town's top employers in his day.
Passages that mention Croghan, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Lewis County, New York1883 · page 491Read the page →
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A small part of the village of Croghan, or "French Settlement" is in this town. A part of the village, of Beaver Falls, (further noticed in our account of Croghan) is in this town, viz : Two gang saw-mills, with lath mill, planers, etc., an inn, (William H. Fredenburg's,) and a few dwelling houses.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Lewis County, New York1883 · page 162Read the page →
Read the text
Croghan was formed from Watson and Diana, April 5, 1841, and named in honor of George Croghan, whose military services had then been recently brought to public notice in the Presidential campaign resulting in Harrison's * The former name of Rodman.
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
Croghan, 1832 to 1911
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Croghan post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Croghan rank for history?
Croghan is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns, #290 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 Croghan?
4 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Croghan Island Mill (listed 2010, the first). 8 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Croghan?
30% of Croghan’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 1974.
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 (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, 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.
Date?
2022
2010
2004
