History · Hadley

Hadley’s post office opened in 1802, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 80% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listings are the Hadley Parabolic Bridge and the Hadley Mountain Fire Observation Station. Below: maps from 1903 on and the census since 1810.

1802first post office

2on the National Register

25%homes built before 1940

1famous people

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Quick answers

How Hadley began

When was Hadley founded?

1802

The Hadley post office opened in 1802, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,725 in 18102020 census: 1,976224 years

How historic is Hadley?

A⁻

More historic than 80% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Hadley post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Hadley’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hadley is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.

A⁻

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hadley’s overall grade.

Founding era1802, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA⁻Homes built before 194024.8% of homes (±12.2) · typical NY town 26.6% · U.S. 8.4%A⁻National Register2 listings, 9.6 per 10,000 residents · typical NY town 12.3 · U.S. 2.4B⁻

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 80%

NewerOlder

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 Hadley’s 9.6 sits near the middle of its state (45% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±12.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

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 →

What stands out about Hadley’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 Hadley are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1810 and 1920, then grew 3-fold.On the map since 19033 editions of the USGS map, 1903 to 1968. Watch Hadley change.Deep rootsA post office since 1802: 224 years of Hadley.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hadley’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hadley’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

People over time

Hadley, census by census

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1810 and 1920, then grew 3-fold.

22 censuses, 1810–2020.

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

On the map

Hadley on the map, 1903 to 1968

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

1903Luzerne 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 Hadley.

The story

How Hadley came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Hadley.

Read it all →

The town was formed from parts of the Towns of Greenfield and Northumberland in 1801. The Town of Corinth was taken from Hadley in 1818, and the Town of Day was removed in 1819, bringing the Town of Hadley to its current dimensions.

In 1930, the Conklingville Dam by the west town line helped create the Sacandaga Reservoir and controlled flooding.

The Hadley Mountain Fire Observation Station and Hadley Parabolic Bridge are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Hadley, 1893–1906

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

In 1715 the General Court made an additional grant of a tract of land four miles square to the township of Hadley, so that the town should thereafter include within its limits what is now South Hadley and South Hadley Falls and control the fishing privilege at the "Greate Falls" on the east side of… — **Historic Hadley**1906 · page 102Read the page →
Read the text
In 1715 the General Court made an additional grant of a tract of land four miles square to the township of Hadley, so that the town should thereafter include within its limits what is now South Hadley and South Hadley Falls and control the fishing privilege at the "Greate Falls" on the east side of the river. Three other excellent fishing places, one below the mouth of Mill River, one a little east of the southern end of the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

**History of Saratoga County, New York**1893 · page 177Read the page →
Read the text
The town of Corinth was formed from the town of Hadley, April 20, 1818. A part of Moreau was annexed January 28, 1848. It lies upon the Hudson, in the northeast part 12 of the county. The Kayaderrossera mountain range occupies the central and north parts, and the Palmertown mountains the south-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

The Hadley farmers were all ready for revolution, for they had been greatly exasperated by the King's surveyors who confiscated all trees twenty-four inches in diameter a foot above the ground, to be made into masts for the British navy. In 1765 Josiah Pierce recorded in his almanac, " A mob in Had… — **Historic Hadley**1906 · page 62Read the page →
Read the text
The Hadley farmers were all ready for revolution, for they had been greatly exasperated by the King's surveyors who confiscated all trees twenty-four inches in diameter a foot above the ground, to be made into masts for the British navy. In 1765 Josiah Pierce recorded in his almanac, " A mob in Hadley on account of logs." The perpetual wrangling over seating the meeting-house was hushed by the call of the minute
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

Hadley, 1802 to 2010

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

19th century
1802Post officeThe Hadley post office opens
1862Born hereJohn C. Anderson is born here
1885BuiltHadley Parabolic Bridge is built
20th century
1903On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1917BuiltHadley Mountain Fire Observation Station is built
21st century
2010CensusPopulation peaks at 2,048

On the National Register

2 historic places in Hadley

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1977

Hadley Parabolic Bridge

SitesStructures

Architectural styles listings

Utilitarian1

Rustic1

Hadley Parabolic BridgeBuilt 1885

Hadley Mountain Fire Observation StationUtilitarian · Built 1917

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Lake Luzerne1 historic placeA⁻Day1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town Corinth1 historic placeA⁻Stony Creek1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Hadley’s history

What year was Hadley founded?

The Hadley post office opened in 1802, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Hadley rank for history?

Hadley is more historic than 80% 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.

What is on the National Register in Hadley?

Two places: the Hadley Parabolic Bridge (listed 1977) and the Hadley Mountain Fire Observation Station (2001).

How old are the homes in Hadley?

25% of Hadley’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1972.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (23), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.

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