–Not graded

History · Danube

Danube dates to 1730, and 37% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Herkimer House, the Indian Castle Church and the Zoller-Frasier Round Barn. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1820.

1730founded

3on the National Register

37%homes built before 1940

1old photo or paper

1famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Danube’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Danube began

When was Danube founded?

1730

Danube dates its founding to 1730 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1820.

First census: 3,187 in 18202020 census: 953296 years

Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1818.The full story ↓

What stands out about Danube’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Danube, and 4 old place names are still on the map.Older than the countryEstablished in 1730, 46 years before the Declaration of Independence.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Danube’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

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

Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2 Retake an old viewIndian Castle Church, State Route 55, I…: stand where they stood+15 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

Danube had its own post office from 1818 to 1903. Another post office, Newville, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Danube

1818–1903

Newville

1825–1922

18101920today

Hamlets and corners on the map

Fink BasinHomestead Mobile ParkIndian CastleNewville

Gone or out of use

Crystal Springs SchoolschoolFrog City SchoolschoolParadise SchoolschoolSchool Number 1schoolSchool Number 3schoolSchool Number 4schoolSchool Number 5school

8cemeteries and burying grounds inside Danube

GardnerGarlockHauptHerkimer HomesteadHessIndian Castle ChurchSmithWalrath

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

Timeline

Danube, 1730 to 1922

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

18th century
1730
FoundingDanube is established
19th century
1818Post officeThe Danube post office opens
1825Post officeThe Newville post office opens
1844Born hereWilliam Sickles is born here
20th century
1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1903Post officeThe Danube post office closes
1922Post officeThe Newville post office closes

The story

How Danube came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Danube.

Read it all →

The town was first settled by Europeans around 1730 on the territories of Lindsey's (1730) and Van Horne's (1731) patents. The town was within the territory of the Mohawk people.

In coordination with the colonial government, the Mohawk had allowed a fortified settlement east of here. They had agreed in 1712 to allow some settlement by Palatine Germans in exchange for Queen Anne helping with their defense against the French and Indian allies. Fort Schuyler was constructed south of the Mohawk River near one of their major settlements at the time.

The town of Danube was formed in 1817 from the town of Minden (in Montgomery County). Part of Danube was taken off in 1828 to form the town of Stark.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Danube in 1893

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

prove the ground and erect a monument to mark the place where the body of General Merkimer is buried This is a matter which concerns every patriotic person, for General Herkimer won the pivotal battle of the Revolution. His body now lies in a pasture in the town of Danube, midway between Little Fal… — **History of Herkimer county, New York**1893 · page 78Read the page →
Read the text
prove the ground and erect a monument to mark the place where the body of General Merkimer is buried This is a matter which concerns every patriotic person, for General Herkimer won the pivotal battle of the Revolution. His body now lies in a pasture in the town of Danube, midway between Little Falls and Indian Castle. The surroundings are unfit, and the stone which marks the grave is not such as should grace the resting place of the hero of Oriskany.
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.

By decade

Danube, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date

Indian Castle Church, State Route 55, Indian Castle, Herkimer County, NY

Date?Indian Castle Church, State Route 55, Indian Castle, …

Today1 recent

2012Danube Herkimer NY

On the map

Danube on the map, 1900 to 1943

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

1900Little Falls 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 Danube.

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 viewIndian Castle Church, State Route 55, Indian Castle, Herkimer County, NY

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

Retake this view · +15

On the National Register

3 historic places in Danube

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1971

Herkimer House

Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1

Round Barn1

Herkimer HouseGreek Revival

Indian Castle ChurchBuilding

All 3 listings

Zoller-Frasier Round BarnBuilding · listed 1984

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

People over time

Danube, census by census

Between 746 and 3,187 people in every census since 1820.

21 censuses, 1820–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Manheim5 historic placesA Minden4 historic placesA Stark2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Little FallsIts storyB⁺Little Falls8 historic placesA⁺St. Johnsville8 historic placesA⁺

Questions about Danube’s history

What year was Danube founded?

In 1730, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Danube’s post office opened in 1818, and the census of 1820 counted 3,187 people here.

What is on the National Register in Danube?

Three places: the Herkimer House (listed 1971), the Indian Castle Church (1971) and the Zoller-Frasier Round Barn (1984).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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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