2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 3 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1820.
The Henderson post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Naples (1811), Robert's Corners (1844) and Bishop Street (1870), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,919 in 18202020 census: 1,438204 years
How historic is Henderson?
A
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Henderson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Henderson’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Henderson is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Henderson’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 Henderson’s 23.6 sits near the middle of its state (58% of New York towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 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 Henderson’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
This area had long been occupied by the Onondaga people, a nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, a Native American coalition of tribes who controlled most of upstate and western New York around the Great Lakes by the 15th century. Because most nations of the confederacy had allied with the British in the American Revolutionary War, after the defeat of Britain the United States forced the Iroquois to cede most of their land in New York under the terms of the peace treaty. The tribes moved to Canada, where the British offered them land in what is now Ontario.
Passages that mention Henderson, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Jefferson County, New York1878 · page 383Read the page →
Read the text
The first school in the town of Henderson was kept in a log school-house, which stood one and a fourth miles south of Henderson village, in the winter of 1808-09. The teacher was Alfred Forbes, or Fobes. Before the school-house was built at Henderson Harbor, Dr. Elias Skinner, the first physician who settled in town, and who lived here, taught school in one end of his dwelling. He is remembered by those who attended under him as a "brisk wielder of the
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.
Timeline
Henderson, 1811 to 1995
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Henderson post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Henderson rank for history?
Henderson is more historic than 88% of U.S. towns. 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.
What is on the National Register in Henderson?
Two places: the Cyrus Bates House (listed 2004) and the Norton-Burnham House (2016).
How old are the homes in Henderson?
33% of Henderson’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 1964.
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 (8), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (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), 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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