Its Register listings are the Hamden Covered Bridge, the Schoolhouse No. 5 and the Hamden District No.1 School. Below: maps from 1922 on and the census since 1830.
The Hamden post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, North Hamden (1841) and Mundale (1889), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,210 in 18302020 census: 1,137202 years
How historic is Hamden?
A
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Hamden post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Hamden’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hamden is more historic than 87% 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 Hamden’s overall grade.
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 Hamden’s 32.1 sits near the middle of its state (63% of New York towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.5 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 Hamden’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The town was created as the "Town of Hampden" in 1825 from the towns of Delhi and Walton. The current spelling of the name was adopted in 1826.
The first mention of a baseball game in an American newspaper was for a game to be played in Hamden:
The following notice appears in the July 13‚ 1825 edition of the Delhi Gazette: "The undersigned‚ all residents of the new town of Hamden‚ with the exception of Asa Howland‚ who has recently removed to Delhi‚ challenge an equal number of persons of any town in the County of Delaware‚ to meet them at any time at the house of Edward B. Chace‚ in said town‚ to play the game of Bass-Ball‚ for the sum of one dollar each per game." (as noted by Tom Heitz and John Thorn).
The first known settler within the town of Hamden was David Harrower who came from "down East" with his wife and two sons and a cow, in the summer of 1779 according to the most authentic records, but well established tradition places his advent into the unbroken wilderness at an earlier date. They came down the river from Stamford in a canoe, the cow being driven along the Indian trail, and camped upon the river tlat on the farm now owned by Arthur Shaw, where a cabin was built aud the pioneer
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the name of which was changed to Montgomery April 2, ITS-l. From iloutgomery was formed Otsego, February 1(!, 17!)1, and iu this new county was included the western part of the pi'eseut town of Hamden. Thus wheu Delaware county was erected from Otsego and Ulster, that j)art of Hamden lying east of the river was a part of the town of Middletown, Ulster couuty, and that part of the town west of the river was a part of the town of Harperstield, Otsego county.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Delaware County, and border wars of New York, containing a sketch of the late anti-rent difficulties in Delaware..1856Read the page →
Read the text
from Middletown in 1819 ; Bovina was taken from Delhi and Stamford in 1820. The name was given by the late General Root, and is of a latin origin, signifying cattle or oxen — it is both beautiful and appropriate. Hamden was taken from Walton in 1825, and was the last town organized in the county.
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
Hamden, 1824 to 1922
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Hamden post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hamden rank for history?
Hamden is more historic than 87% 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 Hamden?
Three places: the Hamden Covered Bridge (listed 1999), the Schoolhouse No. 5 (2011) and the Hamden District No.1 School (2018).
How old are the homes in Hamden?
27% of Hamden’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.5 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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.
