Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1815.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Haverstraw’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Haverstraw is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #308 of 758 in New York. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Haverstraw’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 Haverstraw’s 2.4 sits below most of its state (27% of New York towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1616.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 points).
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Haverstraw’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In 1609, the region was explored by Henry Hudson. A land purchase was made in this town in 1666 from local natives and confirmed as a patent in 1671. The region was known as Haverstroo, meaning "oat straw" in Dutch.
During the American Revolution, it served (under the command of Col. Ann Hawkes Hay) as an important lookout for British activities on the Hudson. A blue-marked trail, the Long Path, may be taken 2 miles (3 km) eastward from Central Highway along the crest of South Mountain to High Tor. Halfway is Little Tor, the second highest peak on South Mountain.
deed as follows: “This Indenture made the 17th day of August 1789, between Thomas Smith, Esq., and the trustees of the English Protestant Society of Haverstraw. Whereas the said Thomas Smith, in order to promote and advance the cause of Religion and virtue among the inhabitants of Haverstraw did heretofore promise to give to the Society a piece or parcel of ground for the purpose of erecting a
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A published history by Rev. E. V. King says: “The first M. E. church was built in the town of Haverstraw, in the year 1800. In 1805, William Vredenberg is named by the old minutes as the pastor at Haverstraw. Then there were less than 120,000 Methodists in all of the United States and Territories.” (The same denomination now numbers nearly 2,000,000.) A k.ter written in 1835, and now in the possession of H. B. McKenzie, of
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.
By decade
Haverstraw, decade by decade
5 decades in the archive, from the 1810s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
In 1616, according to Wikidata. Haverstraw’s post office opened in 1815, and the first U.S. census counted 4,826 people here in 1790.
How does Haverstraw rank for history?
Haverstraw is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #308 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 Haverstraw?
28% of Haverstraw’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1962.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (11), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
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