Its Register listing is the U.S. Inspection Station-Fort Covington, New York. Its Register listing is the U.S. Inspection Station-Fort Covington, New York. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1820.
From Fort Covington’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers
How Fort Covington began
When was Fort Covington founded?
1817
The Fort Covington post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Cooks Corner (1855) and Fort Covington Centre (1857), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 979 in 18202020 census: 1,531209 years
How historic is Fort Covington?
A−
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Fort Covington post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Fort Covington’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fort Covington is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Fort Covington’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 Fort Covington’s 7.1 sits near the middle of its state (40% of New York towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Fort Covington’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Peaked at 2,901 in 1830; 1,531 people lived here in 2020.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fort Covington’s Wikipedia page.
Every building
Fort Covington, building by building, 1884–1909
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1884Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The area of what is now Fort Covington was settled during the 1790s by people from southern Canada and Vermont, who were drawn to the area by a need for people to work at the mills located on the Salmon River. The village was first named French Mills. In July 1813, a blockhouse was built here to shelter wounded soldiers and to provide a winter headquarters.
In 1817, French Mills was re-named to Fort Covington, named after Brigadier General Leonard Covington, who had been mortally wounded during the Battle of Chrysler's Farm on November 11, 1813, in the War of 1812. In 1833, the western part of Fort Covington was made into the town of Bombay.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fort Covington.
1977East of Fort Covington Port of Entry sheet · 1:25,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fort Covington.
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 viewFort Covington (Township); Fort Covington Village Business Notices.; Town of Fort Covington Business Notices, 1876
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Fort Covington’s page.
The Fort Covington post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Fort Covington rank for history?
Fort Covington is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns. 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.
What is on the National Register in Fort Covington?
One place: the U.S. Inspection Station-Fort Covington, New York (listed 2014).
How old are the homes in Fort Covington?
36% of Fort Covington’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 (4), the Library of Congress (6), the National Register of Historic Places (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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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