Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Great River was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1970. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 2000.
The Great River post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Great River. 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 Great River.
From Wikipedia’s history of Great River.
For centuries, clusters of the Algonquin people known as the Montaukett people occupied the territory known as Secatogue, now the town of Islip. They lived in clusters located at West Islip (Secatogue), Bay Shore (Penataquit), Great River, and Oakdale (Connetquot).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Great River, cut from the printed page as they were published.
“The most interesting portion of Captain Glazier’s ‘Down the Great River ’ is the beginning, where the author gives the details of an expedition made, in 1881, by himself with five companions, when he claims, with good grounds, to have fixed the actual True Source of the Great River. His attention was called, in 1876, to the fact that, though everybody knows the mouth of the stream, there was then much uncertainty about the Source. In 1881, he found time to organize the expedition named, and crossing the country to Itasca, embarked and pushed through that lake
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.
In the archiveJames Neale Ives Plumb residence, Deer Range Farm Park Frontage
Born hereBronson M. Cutting is born here
In the archiveSuffolk County, V. 1, Double Page Plate No. 13 (Map bounded by Great River, Bohemia, East…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveGreat River; East Patchogue
Born hereTim Melia is born here3 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1910s. 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 Great River’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Between 1,489 and 2,005 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Great River’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.
The Great River post office opened in 1889, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
1850
1850
1915