Essex’s post office opened in 1801, and 54% of its homes were built before 1940
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 150 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1820.
The Essex post office opened in 1801, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1805. Six smaller post offices, Elizabeth (1811), Brookfield (1812) and Split Rock (1817), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,223 in 18202020 census: 621225 years
Founding year: the first Essex post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1805.The full story ↓
What stands out about Essex’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
At the time of first European contact ca. 1530, the area on the western shores of Lake Champlain were inhabited by Mohawk people of the Iroquois confederacy, with substantial Abenaki (Algonquian) contact.
Essex was part of a land grant made to Louis Joseph Robart by King Louis XV of France. The land grant was lost after the British took over the region after 1763.
The region was first settled around 1765 with the intention of forming a baronial estate like those of the lower Hudson River for landowner and investor, William Gilliland.
The town was formed from a part of the town of Willsboro in 1805. It was an important shipbuilding location and port, but that economy collapsed after 1849 with the beginning of railroad lines in the region.
Passages that mention Essex, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The military and civil history of the county of Essex, New York1869 · page 208Read the page →
Read the text
venient exercise of their civil and poliiical functions. The village of Essex was originally constituted the county shire, and the old block-house, mentioned before, was appropriated for the public use, and was occupied for these purposes, until the removal of the county seat to Pleasant Valley. By the census of 1800, the combined population of Clinton and Essex counties, was eight thousand five hundred and seventy-two, including fifty-eight slaves. The
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The military and civil history of the county of Essex, New York [microform]1869 · page 48Read the page →
Read the text
Champlain, taking, in going down, one league below the river Boquet, and in going up, two leagues and a half above said river.’ These boundaries comprehend all of the present town of Essex and a large proportion of Willsboro’. The tract was soon after formally laid out and allotted by an official surveyor. We have no evidence that apy permanent and actual occupation was formed under _ these grants. Kalm, who visited the region at an early
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
northern boundary was in danger. At the town meeting in March every voter gave his voice in support of a resolution setting forth that the citizens of Westport did protest against a petition from the town of Essex to the state Legislature, which petition prayed that a strip one mile wide of our domain should be set off to our northern neighbor. Our supervisor, then John H.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
bom, as we have supposed, the same year that Bessboro was first surveyed, she was twenty-one at the time of her marriage. Daniel Boss had come from Dutchess county to settle in Essex, and in Essex the remainder of their lives was spent. Thus the descendants of our Elizabeth were the Bosses of Essex, a family remarkable in many ways.
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
Essex, 1790 to 1995
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Essex post office opened in 1801, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1805.
What is on the National Register in Essex?
5 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Octagonal Schoolhouse (listed 1973, the first), and 1 historic district, the Essex Village Historic District, with 150 contributing buildings. 162 historic buildings in all.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.
2011
2011
2011
2011
