Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns · #588 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Bevier-Wright House. Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1900.
Dickinson dates its founding to 1890 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1900.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Dickinson is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #588 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Dickinson’s 4.0 sits below most of its state (32% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dickinson’s history is told.
Two 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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dickinson. 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 Dickinson.
From Wikipedia’s history of Dickinson.
The town of Dickinson was established in 1890 from the Town of Binghamton.
The former Chenango Canal (1834–1876) passed through the town, following the Chenango River. The current village of Port Dickinson formed as a port on the canal. The canal linked Binghamton to Troy and the Erie Canal.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Dickinson, cut from the printed page as they were published.
much of the government land was granted to the state of Minnesota for aid of the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad, which, however, passed through the counties west of here in 1871, bitterly disappointing the people of Dickinson County. This made the town of Sibley for many years the nearest railroad station, to reach it requiring a journey of from twenty-five to forty miles for the people of this county. Algona, sixty miles away, was located on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, and was the next nearest station for the people of this county. In 1878 the road
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The land upon which the new town of Milford, or North Milford as it was called, was laid out, was purchased from John Lawler. The town was laid out by him, surveyed, platted, and the plat filed at the Dickinson County courthouse August 21, 1882. The first business to open up in the new location was the lumber yard of Rasmussen Brothers. Coal and grain were added to their stock later. Besides the old buildings which were transported from the old town to the new, several new buildings were quickly constructed. One
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
were Methodists., It was through the efforts of Doctor Prescott that the Methodist Conference of 1859 decided to send a minister to the frontier. This circuit at that time comprised Emmet, Dickinson, Clay and O'Brien Counties. Services were held once in three weeks as follows: In Emmet County, at Estherville in the morning, and at Emmet in the afternoon; in Dickinson County the next Sunday, at Spirit Lake in the morning, and at Okoboji in the afternoon; and on the Sunday
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
has been previously stated, that road was built through Osceola and O'Brien Counties in 1871, and Sibley was for several years the nearest railroad station, the distance from the different business points in Dickinson County being from twenty-five to forty miles. The terminus and nearest point on the Chicago, n Digitized by CjOOQIC
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.
BuiltBevier-Wright House is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
Between 728 and 6,591 people in every census since 1900.
13 censuses, 1900–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dickinson’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Dickinson itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1890, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Dickinson’s post office opened in 1865, and the census of 1900 counted 728 people here.
Dickinson is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #588 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.
One place: the Bevier-Wright House (listed 2008).
32% of Dickinson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1952.
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 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.
