Founding year: the first Fort Plain post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Fort Plain’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Fort Plain is more historic than 85% 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 Plain’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 Plain’s 4.4 sits below most of its state (33% 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 (±6.5 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 Plain’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
The village is in a region where the Mohawk people had four major villages along the Mohawk River in the 17th century. They historically had occupied territory west of the Hudson River and extending north to the St. Lawrence River and south to the Delaware Water Gap, but their main villages were located close to the Mohawk River. Due to losses from a smallpox epidemic in 1634, the Mohawk reduced their villages to three. By the early 18th century they had two major villages.
Wood, the firm being Wood, Clark & Hall. Mr. Hall disposed of his interest, and the firm of Wood, Clark & Co. was forn^ed, the company being Mr. Wood's son Herbert, which continued until Mr. Wood's retirement in ISSI. In 18G4 he helped to organize the Fort Plain bank and became one of its directors, and in 1875 was elected president, which position he also filled for the Fort Plain National bank, which was an outgrowth of the former institution. In 18G9, in connection with James Skipman, who had removed his spring and axle works from Springfield to Fort Plain, he helped to form the Fort Plain Spring and Axle company, and is now one of the four owners of the plant,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
his native town ; on account of his ill health he came to the Adirondack regions of New York state, remaining about two year>. He then accepted a situation as teacher in Clay, Onondaga county, where, after teaching one term, he came to Starksville, Otsego county, where he taught three terms. He came to Fort Plain in 1872 as principal of the public schools of the village, and after twelve and a half consecutive years, resigned, for the purpose of traveling on the road as a salesman for the Fort Plain Glove and Mitten Company, an industry he was largely interested m as partner. After traveling five years, at the urgent solicitation of the school board of Fort Plain, he again became
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
Fort Plain, 1824 to 1950
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Fort Plain post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Fort Plain rank for history?
Fort Plain is more historic than 85% 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.
How old are the homes in Fort Plain?
70% of Fort Plain’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.5 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
1891
2010
2010
2010