Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Red Hill Fire Observation Station. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1905 on, and the census since 1850.
Denning dates its founding to 1849 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1850.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Denning had its own post office from 1850 to 1906. Seven other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Denning’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1860 and 1960, then more than doubled.
18 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Denning’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Denning.
Denning was established in 1849 from part of the Town of Shandaken. The region had been part of the Hardenburgh Patent granted to Johannes Hardenburgh in 1708. William H. Denning, for whom the settlement was named, bought a tract of land at a tax sale.
The Red Hill Fire Observation Station was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Denning, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Denning, being one of the more recentlyformed towns of the county, — scarcely settled even at the time of the Mexican war, — first shared in military affairs in the great struggle of 1S01-05. The following list comprises the names of the soldiers who entered the Union army from the town of Denning. It is prepared from the printed muster-in rolls of the State, from the reports of the census enumerators of 1805, and has been revised by inquiry
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The town is bounded on the north by Delaware county and the town of Shandaken, on the east by Shandaken and Denning, on the south by Shandaken and Sullivan county, and on the west by Delaware county. It was formed from Denning and Shandaken in 1859, and named after Johannes Hardenburgh, who was the original patentee of a vast mountain tract which covered large parts of this and adjoining counties. The average elevation of the town is about 1,800 feet, and there are three lofty mountain peaks within its limits. These are Graham Mountain,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In the summer the town of Denning is a paradise for those who love the wilds of Nature. There is plenty of small game in the hills and plenty of fish in the streams. There is not a railroad within the town limits ; but there are numerous places where the world-weary pilgrim can get accommodations and live, during the heated season, close to nature, with all the really necessary accompaniments of civilization ; or he may pitch his tent in a gully between the hills, and make himself as comfortable or uncomfortable as his tastes and means will permit.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
It is usuallystated, and probably correctly, that Anthony Schwab was the first settler of Denning, and that he located on Read Hill in 1841. Yet a saw-mill is said to have been erected in 1S27. If so, it was probably near the boundary line of Sullivan County, and could hardly be called a settlement of this township.
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.
In the archiveBeers Ulster County Atlas Page046-047
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltRed Hill Fire Observation Station is builtOne decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2022Late afternoon sunlight in Catskill forest near Frost…
2022Catskill forest on summer afternoon off Pine Hill-Wes…
2022Catskill forest on summer afternoon off Pine Hill-Wes…
2022Biscuit Brook at Pine Hill-West Branch Trail crossing…
2022Biscuit Brook Lean-To, Frost Valley, NY
2022Biscuit Brook Lean-To, Frost Valley, NY 2
2015Table Mountain from Curtis-Ormsbee Trail
2014Peekamoose Mountain summit rock
2014Peekamoose Mountain Great Southern Overlook panorama
2011Rondout Creek after Hurricane Irene
2011Peekamoose Valley Wild Forest after Hurricane Irene f…
2011Pavement washed off Peekamoose Road after Hurricane I…
2011Downed trees on Peekamoose-Table Trail after Hurrican…
2008Ulster County Route 47
2007Peekamoose and Table Mountains, NY
2007Denning, NY, town hallEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Denning. 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 Denning.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Denning itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1849, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Denning’s post office opened in 1850, and the census of 1850 counted 447 people here.
One place: the Red Hill Fire Observation Station (listed 2001).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (17), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 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.
