Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 95% of U.S. towns · #151 of 758 in New York. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1820.
Geneseo dates its founding to 1789 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1820.
More historic than 95% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Geneseo is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #151 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
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 Geneseo’s 551 sits above most of its state (92% of New York towns have fewer) while its 424 historic buildings outnumber those of 97% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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.
1885Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Geneseo. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Geneseo.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archivePrinted notice of Livingston County Celebration, July 3, at Geneseo (New York) in honor o…
Born hereJames Wolcott Wadsworth Jr. is born here
Born hereWinifred Greenwood is born here
In the archiveWadsworth Memorial Fountain, Main Street
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveNew York
In the archiveBlanche Jennings Thompson age 38From Wikipedia’s history of Geneseo.
Near Geneseo was the largest Seneca village, Jo’néhsi:yo:h, a center of power for the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. It was also the confederacy's "bread basket", with orchards, vineyards, and fields of maize and vegetables.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Geneseo, cut from the printed page as they were published.
■Gerrit Smith delivered an address at a meeting held at the Presbyterian Church in Geneseo, on the 1st day of September, 1838. At this meeting, according to the record, "there was a respectable audience from several towns in the county, and among them a fciv from the Village of Geneseo." It is apparent from the emphasis with which the secretary records the word "few," that the attendance from Geneseo was not up to his notion of what it should have been.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
It was resolved to hold the treaty at Big Tree, near the settlement which afterwards became Geneseo. In meadow lands within the corporate limits of the village of Geneseo, southwest from the park, about a quarter of a mile above the Erie railroad and about the same distance west of the Mount Morris road, there stood until 1000 a cobblestone house; on the site of this building there was at the time of the treaty a small dwelling erected by William and James Wadsworth in 1701.1 This was rented by Thomas Morris for the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Two years before, (in 1811) tlie town of Geneseo contained one meeting-house, six school houses, and two infantry companies.
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.
4 decades in the archive, from the 1840s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Geneseo’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 2 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 1,598 people in 1820 to 10,483 in 2010, 6 times over.
20 censuses, 1820–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Geneseo’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1789, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Geneseo’s post office opened in 1806, and the census of 1820 counted 1,598 people here.
Geneseo is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #151 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.
26% of Geneseo’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1974.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (11), the Library of Congress (1), 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.
1917
1917
1917
1917
1917
1917
2006
2006