Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1798.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Herkimer’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Herkimer is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #238 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.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Herkimer’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 Herkimer’s 11.9 sits near the middle of its state (49% of New York towns have fewer) while its 9 historic buildings outnumber those of 75% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1788.
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 (±8.3 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 Herkimer’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Herkimer was first settled c. 1722, in an area originally called "Stone Ridge", now the village of Herkimer. Early settlers were primarily German Palatines.
Johan Jost Herchheimer, a farmer who also engaged in trade and transport on the Mohawk River, settled in the German Flatts District of Albany County in 1725, on the south side of the Mohawk River, within the present-day town of German Flatts, incorporated in 1788. He owned 5,000 acres (20 km2) of the land, including a strategic portage around Little Falls on the Mohawk, where his eldest son Nicholas Herkimer established a farmstead. In 1788, the town of Herkimer, on the north side of the river, was incorporated and named after him.
Passages that mention Herkimer, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Herkimer county, New York1893 · page 222Read the page →
Read the text
The village of Herkimer is the oldest in the county, and was incorporated April 6, 1807, Geneva, Cooperstown and Utica then being the only villages west of Herkimer, and the two former antedated Herkimer by only a few days. The population at the date of incorporation was probably about 300. In 1820 it was 547 ; in 1872, 2,000, and at the present time about 4,000.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The old stone mansion, the most important at Fort Herkimer, had been garrisoned at various periods since 1757, when the fort contained one hundred and fifty soldiers and two hundred settlers, the garrison remaining there until the close of the French war, part of the time under the command of Captain Nicholas Herkimer. In 1776 it had been again fitted up and garrisoned.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Herkimer county, New York1893 · page 397Read the page →
Read the text
Town of schuylee. 397 THE town of Schuyler was formed from the town of Herkimer April 10, 1792. Since that date the town of Trenton was taken from it in 1797 ; Deerfield (Oneida county) in 1798, and a part of Newport in 1S06. A part of Herkimer was annexed in 1808, and reannexed to Herkimer in 181 1. (See New York session laws.) Schuyler is bounded on the north by Newport ; east by Herkimer ; south by the Mohawk River, and west by Oneida county. The valley of the Mohawk,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
German Flatts." In November of the same year the Indian sachem, chief of the Oneidas, met his white brothers in council and made a speech at Fort Herkimer, Rudolph Schumaker and John Jost Herkimer and others who understood the Indian language being present to interpret. On the 30th of April, 1758, Fort Herkimer, commanded by Captain Nicholas Herkimer, was attacked by a large body 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.
Timeline
Herkimer, 1765 to 1947
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1788, according to Wikidata. Herkimer’s post office opened in 1798, and the first U.S. census counted 1,525 people here in 1790.
How does Herkimer rank for history?
Herkimer is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #238 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 Herkimer?
53% of Herkimer’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.3 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
