The story
Read it all →How Fremont came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Fremont.
The town was formed in 1854 from parts of four other towns: Dansville, Hornellsville, Howard and Wayland.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Fremont
37% of Fremont’s homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1915 on and the census since 1860.
0on the National Register
37%homes built before 1940
What stands out about Fremont’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Fremont are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Fremont, and 3 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19153 editions of the USGS map, 1915 to 1978. Watch Fremont change.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Fremont’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fremont’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Haskinville
Big Creek
Stephens' Mills
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Big CreekHaskinvilleJobs Corner
Gone or out of use
Babcock SchoolschoolDutch Street SchoolschoolGulf SchoolschoolHarding SchoolschoolHaskinville SchoolschoolMack Schoolschool
5cemeteries and burying grounds inside Fremont
Amos WhiteBig CreekFremont CenterMount PleasantSaint Marys
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Fremont on the map, 1915 to 1978
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fremont. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1915Hornell sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fremont.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Fremont in 1856
Passages that mention Fremont, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Republican Party and its presidential candidates1856 · page 492Read the page →
Read the text
they momentarily expected the British fleet. Commodore Sloat remained live days before the town, and until he heard of Fremont's operations ; then believing that Fremont had orders from his government to take California, he having none himself, he determined to act liimself. He received the news of Fremont's successes on the 6th day of July : on the Vth he took the town of Montei'ey, and sent a despatch to Fremont. The latter came to him
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Republican Party and its presidential candidates1856 · page 495Read the page →
Read the text
"Leaving a small garrison at Sanoma, Colonel Fremont went to the Sacramento to rouse the American settlers; but scarcely had he arrived there, when an express reached him from the garrison at Sanoma, with information that Castro's whole force was crossing the bay to attack that place. This intelhgence was received in the afternoon of the 23d of June, while he was on the American fork of the Sacramento, eighty miles from the little garrison at Sa-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Late American history1856 · page 222Read the page →
Read the text
In this disturbed state of the country, travelling became unsafe. Murders were committed, and the two officers whom Fremont had retained as travelling companions, after sending by sea the battalion to Monterey, remonstrated against attempting the journey. Fremont had prepared horses at San Gabriel to mount his original party, and proceed to Mexico, to join liis regiment, or May 9. Otherwise to pursue his explorations.
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
Fremont, 1843 to 1915
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1843Post officeThe Haskinville post office opens
- 1851Post officeThe Big Creek post office opens
- 1853Post officeThe Stephens' Mills post office opens
- 20th century
- 1903Post officeThe Stephens' Mills post office closes
- 1905Post officeThe Haskinville post office closes
- 1907Post officeThe Big Creek post office closes
- 1915
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumPeople over time
Fremont, census by census
Between 645 and 1,277 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fremont’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Fremont
Nobody well known was born in Fremont itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Fremont’s history
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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 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.