Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #360 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Levi J. and Frances A. Pierce House. Its Register listing is the Levi J. and Frances A. Pierce House. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1820.
The Hanover post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Nashville (1825), Acasto (1826) and Smiths Mills (1833), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hanover is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #360 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Hanover’s 2.9 sits below most of its state (29% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% 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.
Hanover had its own post office from 1817 to 1852. Four 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hanover’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hanover. 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 Hanover.
From Wikipedia’s history of Hanover.
The first settler arrived in 1796. The town of Hanover was formed in 1812 from part of the town of Pomfret. The size of Hanover was reduced later to form the new towns of Villenova (1823) and Sheridan (1827).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Hanover, cut from the printed page as they were published.
However, settlement once commenced in this western solitude continued rapidly. Charles Avery settled in the town of Hanover, on lot 3, near the mouth of the Cattaraugus creek, in 1803, possibly in 1802, and a little later became a small trader in Indian goods. William H.
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.
In the archiveHanover (Township)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Hanover’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 2,217 and 7,876 people in every census since 1820.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hanover’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Hanover post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Hanover is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #360 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.
One place: the Levi J. and Frances A. Pierce House (listed 2022).
44% of Hanover’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1950.
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 (7), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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