Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hamilton College. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1895Oriskany 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 Hamilton College.
Hamilton College traces its origins back to 1793, when it was chartered as the Hamilton-Oneida Academy, a seminary founded by Rev. Samuel Kirkland. The academy, located in a three-story building near the Oneida Nation's home, admitted both white and Oneida boys and was named in honor of Alexander Hamilton, who collaborated with Kirkland in starting the school and served on its first Board of Trustees. None of the Oneida boys lasted more than one year, the reason being lack of funding, along with the Oneida boys' poor knowledge of English and their lack of interest in the curriculum. The new school applied for a charter from the New York Board of Regents in 1805, and received it in 1812, conditional on raising an endowment of $50,000 (equivalent to $948,529 in 2025). Originally its location on College Hill was in the town of Paris from 1793 to 1827, then in the town of Kirkland. Clinton …
Passages that mention Hamilton College, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Oneida County, New York1912 · page 467Read the page →
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of September, 1882, chiefly to give his large family the benefit of the excellent educational advantages to be had in this section, where his ancestors had figured prominently through a period from its earliest settlement, and near which a part of his boyhood had been spent at Hamilton College. It is a rather curious coincidence that Mr. White in coming to Utica, in September, 1882, with his five sons and five daughters, arrived ninety-eight years after the original settlement of Whitestown by Hugh White, the pioneer, who arrived June 5. 1784, with his five sons. It was but a short time after Mr. "White took up his resi-
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.
