Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns · #182 of 758 in New York. What drives it
15 places in town are on the National Register, among them the United States Military Academy, a National Historic Landmark, and a historic district with 17 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1880.
Highlands dates its founding to 1725 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Highlands is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #182 of 758 in New York. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Highlands’ 30.4 sits near the middle of its state (62% of New York towns have fewer) while its 39 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Highlands’s history is told.
Drag across each photo to compare.
1821TodayFrom Wikipedia’s history of Highlands.
The town was first settled circa 1725 by John Moore, a patentee for this territory. During the American Revolution, colonial forces constructed Fort Montgomery and Fort Clinton to obstruct enemy progress on the river. Highlands was created from the town of Cornwall in 1872, making it one of the last towns formed in the county.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveView near Fort MontgomeryBuiltChurch of the Holy Innocents and Rectory is builtBuiltHouse at 37 Center Street is builtBuiltFirst Presbyterian Church of Highland Falls is built
In the archiveDay Line Steamers passing
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1820s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2023Little Bog Meadow Pond Town Of Highlands NY March 2023
2016Constitution Island and northern USMA campus from US …
2015IMAG0358
2010Popolopen Creek, Gorge, & Torne
2009NY293Southbound
2009NY293NorthernJunction
2008PopolopenVista
2008PopolopenTorneCairn
2007PopolopenGristMillRuins
2007Popolopen9WOverpass
2006Popolopen memorial
2006Bear Mountain, HudsonEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Highlands. 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 Highlands.
Between 3,404 and 14,661 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Highlands’ Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Highlands itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Another post office, Buttermilk Falls, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1725, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Highlands’ post office opened in 1815, and the census of 1880 counted 3,404 people here.
Highlands is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #182 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.
15 listings: 14 buildings and 1 historic district, the United States Military Academy, with 17 contributing buildings. 39 historic buildings in all.
35% of Highlands’ 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 1957.
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 (13), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (15), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
