Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns · #239 of 758 in New York. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 6 buildings. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1820.
The Hancock post office opened in 1815, the earliest record of the town by name. Ten smaller post offices, Partridge Island (1825), Harvard (1849) and Cadosia Valley (1853), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hancock is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #239 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Hancock’s 36.1 sits near the middle of its state (64% of New York towns have fewer) while its 10 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Hancock’s post office has been open since 1815. 18 other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Peaked at 5,308 in 1900; 2,764 people lived here in 2020.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hancock’s Wikipedia page.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1886Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Hancock.
This town was established in 1806 from part of the town of Colchester. It is named for John Hancock, signer of the Declaration of the Independence.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Hancock, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The History, of Hancock County, publislied in 1884, has the following to say in regard to the early settlement of the county: ''Years ago the public lands embraced by the present limits of Hancock County were thrown into the market and sold, the purchasers being generally men of extensive means who obtained the lands in large tracts for speculative purposes. Consequently, since the organization of the county, it has had no public lands, if we except the sixteenth sections for school purposes, and the swamp land grant, which the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
and delivered to Hancock County, Iowa, a deed to the following described real estate, to wit: "Block No. Twelve (12), of Tallman's Addition to the town of Garner, Hancock County, Iowa, as a gift to said county for certain prescribed purposes, which deed is recorded in the records of Hancock County, Iowa, in Book 10 of deeds on page 575, and whereas circumstances have up until this time prevented said Hancock County, Iowa, from taking possession and occupying said premises for the purposes
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
This name has long been a famihar one in Hancock county, and its representatives, commencing in pioneer days, have at every period since their settlement been influential in connection with the general development. David and Fannie Roberts, whose births occurred in Fairfield county, Ohio, about the closing of the first decade of the nineteenth century, came shortly after their marriage to Hancock county, where they located on forty acres of land in Big Lick township. The warrant for this land was signed by no less a person than General Andrew Jackson, better known as "Old Hickoiy," who
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
We quote from the record : " WhereaSy It has been shown to the full satisfaction of the County Commissioners of Hancock county, Indiana, by competent and sufficient evidence, that on the night of the 12th of January, 1866, the Treasurer's office of this, Hancock county, was feloniously entered, the iron safe broken open and a large sum of money stolen therefrom, of which five thousand dollars was money belonging to Hancock county, the same having been
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.
Born hereHenry Bidleman Bascom is born here
In the archiveHancock (Village); Hancock (Township)
BuiltHotel Delaware is built
Born hereEddie Murphy is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveAerial view of freight house (long one-story building with a gable roof, on the track sid…
In the archiveKandyland ice cream sign, Front Street3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1968Aerial view of freight house (long one-story building…
1968Aerial view of station and freight house (in center, …
1968Aerial view of station and freight house (in center, …
1968Detail view of bridge, from west - New York, Ontario …1987Kandyland ice cream sign, Front Street
1987Kandyland ice cream sign, detail, Front Street
2009Lordville, New York
2009Lordville, New York
2009Lordville, New York
2009Lordville, New York
2009Lordville, New York
2009Lordville, New York
2009Lordville, New York
2009Lordville, New York
2009Lordville Presbyterian Church May 09
2008Pennsylvania State Route 191 at its northern terminus…
2002FamilyfoundationschoolEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hancock. 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 Hancock.
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 Hancock’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s 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 Hancock post office opened in 1815, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Hancock is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #239 of 758 in New York. 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.
5 listings: 3 buildings, 1 historic district, the Ravina, with 6 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 10 historic buildings in all.
36% of Hancock’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1960.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (18), the National Register of Historic Places (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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
