The Hannibal post office opened in 1816, the earliest record of the town by name. Six smaller post offices, Kinney Four Corners (1826), Hull's Corners (1836) and Hannibal Centre3 (1849), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 935 in 18202020 census: 4,525210 years
How historic is Hannibal?
B
More historic than 60% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Hannibal post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Hannibal’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hannibal is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #601 of 758 in New York. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hannibal’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 Hannibal’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (10% of New York towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.6 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 Hannibal’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Hannibal’s post office has been open since 1816. Six other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hannibal
1816–today
Kinney Four Corners
1826–1904
Hull's Corners
1836–1855
Hannibal Centre3
1849–1906
South Hannibal
1855–1906
Fairdale
1858–1905
North Hannibal
1867–1907
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Cains CornersCountry Haven Mobile Home ParkCrestview Mobile Home ParkFairdaleHannibal CenterHannibal Hills Mobile Home ParkLocus Grove Mobile Home ParkNorth HannibalPowell Mobile Home ParkSouth Hannibal
Gone or out of use
Carter SchoolschoolSchool Number 1schoolSchool Number 10schoolSchool Number 11schoolSchool Number 12schoolSchool Number 13schoolSchool Number 14schoolSchool Number 15schoolSchool Number 2schoolSchool Number 3schoolSchool Number 5schoolSchool Number 7schoolSchool Number 9school
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Hannibal
BethelFairdale RuralHannibalHannibal Center
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Hannibal’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hannibal’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
The first settlement took place circa 1802. Much of the region was purchased from the Onondaga and Oneida tribes to form the Central New York Military Tract to pay off war veterans. The town was formed in 1806 from the Town of Lysander while still part of Onondaga County, New York. The name was provided by Robert Harpur, an employee of the New York survey, who is responsible for many of the "classical" names applied to political entities in the central part of New York.
The Hannibal post office opened in 1816, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hannibal rank for history?
Hannibal is more historic than 60% of U.S. towns, #601 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.
How old are the homes in Hannibal?
23% of Hannibal’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1867
