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History · Greenwood

Greenwood dates to 1820, and 45% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1926 on, and the census since 1830.

1820founded
0on the National Register
45%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Greenwood’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Greenwood began

When was Greenwood founded?

1820

Greenwood dates its founding to 1820 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1830.

First census: 852 in 18302020 census: 777206 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1827.The full story ↓

What stands out about Greenwood’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Greenwood, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,394 in 1870; 771 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsEstablished in 1820: 206 years of Greenwood.Old housesHalf of Greenwood’s homes were built before 1960.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Greenwood’s post office has been open since 1827. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Greenwood
1827–today
Bennetts Creek
1844–1901
West Greenwood
1847–1870
Rough And Ready
1849–1857
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BennettsRough and ReadyWest Greenwood
Gone or out of use
Catholic Church SchoolschoolDryden Hill SchoolschoolKing Hill SchoolschoolLane SchoolschoolMeade SchoolschoolPutman SchoolschoolRedmond SchoolschoolRock Creek SchoolschoolWoodward Hollow Schoolschool
8cemeteries and burying grounds inside Greenwood
Anson BrewsterAtkinsBennettsGreenwoodGreenwoodKrusenLettsRough And Ready

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

People over time

Greenwood, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001850190019502000Peak: 1,394

Peaked at 1,394 in 1870; 771 people lived here in 2020.

20 censuses, 1830–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Greenwood’s Wikipedia page.

Timeline

Greenwood, 1820 to 1926

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1820
    FoundingGreenwood is established
  3. 1824Born hereJacob Merrill Manning is born here
  4. 1827Post officeThe Greenwood post office opens
  5. 1844Post officeThe Bennetts Creek post office opens
  6. 1847Post officeThe West Greenwood post office opens
  7. 1870Post officeThe West Greenwood post office closes
  8. 1870CensusPopulation peaks at 1,394
  9. 1873In the archiveGreenwood Business Notices.; Greenwood (Township)
  10. 1874Born hereGeorge Bell is born here
  11. 20th century
  12. 1901Post officeThe Bennetts Creek post office closes
  13. 1926On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Greenwood came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Greenwood.

Read it all →

A pioneer road was cut through the town in the 18th century, but no settlers remained in the town. The first permanent settlers arrived around 1820. Salt production was an early industry. The main industry today is deer hunting, for which the town claims to be the top deer-take town in New York State.

Greenwood was formed in 1827 from the towns of Canisteo and Troupsburg. Part of Greenwood was used to form the Town of West Union in 1845, but territory was regained from the Town of Jasper in 1848.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Greenwood in 1914

Passages that mention Greenwood, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Daniel Greenwood was a farmer and evidently a man of influence. Pie and his wife were received into the church in Sutton 1730, by letter from Framingham. Dec. 20, 1731, the town of Sutton appointed a committee to "seat the meeting house" and they reported Daniel Greenwood has "the fore seat in ye s…
Greenwood genealogies, 1154-19141914 · page 84Read the page →
Read the text

Daniel Greenwood was a farmer and evidently a man of influence. Pie and his wife were received into the church in Sutton 1730, by letter from Framingham. Dec. 20, 1731, the town of Sutton appointed a committee to "seat the meeting house" and they reported Daniel Greenwood has "the fore seat in ye side gallery."

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
For full seven centuries the surname Greenwood has been in use in England. The early English Greenwood records given in this volume and a long Greenwood pedigree now in the College of Arms, in London, Eng., show the progenitor of the Greenwood family in England to have been a Wyomarus de Greenwode.…
Greenwood genealogies, 1154-19141914Read the page →
Read the text

For full seven centuries the surname Greenwood has been in use in England. The early English Greenwood records given in this volume and a long Greenwood pedigree now in the College of Arms, in London, Eng., show the progenitor of the Greenwood family in England to have been a Wyomarus de Greenwode. All family records of Anglo-Saxon extraction are believed to run back to this Wyomarus and the name Greenwood may be regarded as having had its beginning with him. This Wyomarus was ca-

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.

By decade

Greenwood, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s5 items
Greenwood Business Notices.; Greenwood (Township)1873Greenwood Business Notices.; Greenwood (Township)Painted Post Business Notices.; Greenwood (Village); Painted Post (Village)1873Painted Post Business Notices.; Greenwood (Village); …Greenwood Iron Works, Orange Co., N.Y., P.P. Parrott (proprietor?)1875Greenwood Iron Works, Orange Co., N.Y., P.P. Parrott …Greenwood Iron Works, Orange Co., N.Y., P.P. Parrott (proprietor?)1875Greenwood Iron Works, Orange Co., N.Y., P.P. Parrott …Greenwood Iron Works. Orange Co., N.Y., P. P. Parrott1875Greenwood Iron Works. Orange Co., N.Y., P. P. Parrott
On the map

Greenwood on the map, 1926 to 1978

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Greenwood. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Greenwood on the 1926 USGS mapGreenwood on the 1965 USGS mapGreenwood on the 1978 USGS map1926Greenwood sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Greenwood.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Greenwood Business Notices.; Greenwood (Township)
Retake this viewGreenwood Business Notices.; Greenwood (Township), 1873

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Greenwood’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

2 famous people were born in Greenwood

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
George BellBaseball pitcher · b. 1874
Jacob Merrill ManningAmerican clergyman · b. 1824
Help out

Finish Greenwood’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewGreenwood Business Notices.; Greenwood …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

HartsvilleIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townAndoverIts storyB+JasperIts storyB+West Union1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townIndependenceIts storyB

Questions about Greenwood’s history

What year was Greenwood founded?

In 1820, according to Wikidata. Greenwood’s post office opened in 1827, and the census of 1830 counted 852 people here.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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 Wikimedia Commons (5), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.