Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1827.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ellicott’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ellicott is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #551 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ellicott’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 Ellicott’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (10% of New York towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.8 points). Two sources give 1806.
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 →
What stands out about Ellicott’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first settlers arrived circa 1806. The town of Ellicott was established in 1812 from the town of Pomfret and was one of the first three towns in the county. As such, part of Ellicott was used to form the towns of Busti (1823), Carroll (1825), and Poland (1825), although some territory was later re-annexed to Ellicott from Busti and Carroll.
The city of Jamestown was formed from part of Ellicott in 1886.
Passages that mention Ellicott, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Chautauqua County, New York1875 · page 77Read the page →
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The earliest settlement in the south-east part of the county was made at the present village of Kennedy, in the town of Poland, followed by tiie settlement of a few' families in the present town of Ellicott Dr. Thomas R. Kennedy, of Meadville, Pa., in 1805, commenced the erection of sawmills, chiefly for the manufacture of pine lumber to be run down by water to the southern market. To these inills was subsequently added a grist-mill.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people1921 · page 158Read the page →
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Ellicott— Ellicott, formed from Pomfret, June I, 1812, received its name in compliment to Joseph Ellicott, so long connected with the Holland Land Company, comprised townships one and two of ranges ten and eleven, and included Poland, Carroll, Kiantone, and a part of Busti, making the town twelve miles square.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people1921Read the page →
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Carroll — The town of Carroll, in the extreme southeastern part of the county, was erected in 1825 from the town of Ellicott, and named in honor of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, the immortal Signer, who in affixing his name to the Declaration of Independence added his residence, that there might be no doubt of his identity if misfortune overtook the cause for
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Chautauqua County, New York1875 · page 239Read the page →
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Theron Plumb, a native of Berkshire Co., Mass., is said to have settled, in the winter of 1811-12, on lot 60, tp. 'i, r. 11, then in the town of Ellicott, which, however, was not formed until June following. He appears as an original ■pwTcha.seT only as purchasing lot 7, tp. i, r. 12, which was never in Ellicott. He must, however, have settled in Ellicott, as he was early a prominent citizen of that town, having been elected to many offices in it, and was in 1815 appointed, by the council of appointment, a justice of the peace, and held the office for several years, and was an efficient magistrate. He re-
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
Ellicott, 1806 to 1911
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1806, according to Wikidata. Ellicott’s post office opened in 1827, and the census of 1820 counted 1,462 people here.
How does Ellicott rank for history?
Ellicott is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #551 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.
How old are the homes in Ellicott?
32% of Ellicott’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1955.
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 (1), 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.
