Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Dickinson Hill Fire Tower. Below: maps from 1897 on and the census since 1820.
The Grafton post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, East Grafton (1850) and Quaken Kill (1854), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Grafton is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Grafton’s 5.4 sits near the middle of its state (36% of New York towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Grafton’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1850 and 1930, then grew 3-fold.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Grafton’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Grafton. 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 Grafton.
From Wikipedia’s history of Grafton.
The town of Grafton was originally a part of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, and at that time was known as Roxborough. The first settlements are not clear from the ca. 1765-1807 map of the manor. As part of Rennesselaerswyck, the first inhabitants were renters of that estate.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Grafton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Tomhannock reservoir, five and one-half miles in length and from one half to two miles in width, located in the town of Pittstown and draining an area of sixty-seven square miles in that town and the adjoining towns of Brunswick, Grafton and Hoosick. Adjoining it on the south is the Quackenkill drainage area including a series of seven natural lakes besides a comparatively smaller reservoir located in the town of Grafton.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
and educational classes, manual training, practical talks, games and entertainment. Charles H. Woodhall served as Superintendent of the club nearly ten years. In 1924 the club was given a camp site of seventyfive acres in the town of Grafton on Hayner Pond. Upon this splendid gift the old camp site at Kendall Pond, Berlin, which had been used for many summers, was abandoned. A Board of Directors supervises the club and its activities, and is assisted by a Woman's Auxiliary. The Troy Boys' Club grew from a very small beginning made by Frank G,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Wheeler, in which the followmg entry is made, viz. : — ' 29th May, 1762, then there had died, and been killed in the war, from Oct. 1753 to the date hereof, of Grafton people fourscore persons.' E. One of the most arduous enterprises undertaken during the French war, was that of the famous Major Rogers, with his Rangers, against the Indian town of St. Francis. This town is situated near the St. Lawrence, about middle way between Montreal and Quebec, and was inliabited by a
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltDickinson Hill Fire Tower is built
2012Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center - New York
2012Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center - New York
2012Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center - New York
2012Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center - New York
2012Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center - New York
2012Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center - New York
2012Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center - New York
2012Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center - New York
2012Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center - New York
2009PeacePagoda GraftonNY
2009Grafton Rensselaer NYThe country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grafton’s post office has been open since 1821. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Grafton post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Grafton is more historic than 67% 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.
One place: the Dickinson Hill Fire Tower (listed 2011).
16% of Grafton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1983.
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), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
