Founding year: the first Highland Falls post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Highland Falls’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Highland Falls is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #414 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Highland Falls’ 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 Highland Falls’ 46.2 sits above most of its state (67% of New York towns have fewer) while its 17 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
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 (±8.8 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 Highland Falls’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Highland Falls. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1892West Point sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Highland Falls.
On the National Register
12 historic places in Highland Falls
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
12
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
17
each building in a district counts
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The story so far
Highland Falls, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Highland Falls yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Highland Falls, formerly named Buttermilk Falls, is a village in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 3,684 at the 2020 census. The village was founded in 1906. It is part of the Kiryas Joel–Poughkeepsie–Newburgh metropolitan area as well as the larger New York metropolitan area. Highland Falls is in the Town of Highlands and is adjacent to the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Its first post office opened in 1866. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 3,900 to 3,684 (-6%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Highland Falls, 1881–1908
Passages that mention Highland Falls, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Orange County, New York1908 · page 532Read the page →
Read the text
a proceeding instituted by him in 1892 to require the registry board of the town of Highlands to strike from the register the names of over a hundred soldiers quartered at West Point, who claimed the right to vote in the village of Highland Falls, adjoining the Government reservation. Mr. McClung took the position that the West Point reservation is not a part of the territory of the State of Nev; York ; that upon the cession of the territory by the State the general government became invested with exclusive jurisdiction over it and that persons resident within it are not
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Orange County, New York1881 · page 813Read the page →
Read the text
Isaac Garrison's name appears in the old Cornwall records between 1765 and 1775. He lived about halfway from Highland Falls to Fort Montgomery, in the Middle Highlands neighborhood. He was the father of the well-known C. K. Garrison; also of Abram, Benjamin, Oliver. Jonas Garrison is also mentioned in the early records.
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
Highland Falls, 1855 to 1964
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born 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.
The Highland Falls post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Highland Falls rank for history?
Highland Falls is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #414 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 Highland Falls?
46% of Highland Falls’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.8 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1948.
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 (3), Wikidata (3), 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.
1875
