Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 1830.
Hornby dates its founding to 1814 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1830.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hornby is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Hornby’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (10% of New York towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Hornby’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1830 and 1930, then more than doubled.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Hornby’s Wikipedia page.
Hornby had its own post office from 1826 to 1911. Two other post offices 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Hornby.
The first settlers were Asa and Uriah Nash, in 1814. The town was created in 1826 from part of the Town of Corning (then known as "Painted Post"). In 1831, part of Hornby was used to found the Town of Campbell, and another part of Hornby was added in 1842 to the Town of Orange (now in Schuyler County).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Hornby, cut from the printed page as they were published.
the spring of 1813. In the year 1812, there were about thirty families in the town.* HORNBY AND ORANGE. f Asia and Uriah Nash, the first settlers of Hornby, settled in 1814, in the north part of the town called Nash settlement. Edward Stubbs, Ezra Shaw, Samuel Adams, and Jesse Underwood, settled in 1815. In the same year, Jesse Piatt, John Babbins and Amasa
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
of Hornell, in the county of Steuben, and the town of Almond and parts of the towns of Alfred and Andover, in Allegany county, and the town of Painted Post contained all of the towns of Hornby, Campbell, Erwin, Caton, Lindley, Corning and the city of Corning in Steuben county, and the town of Independence and part of Andover in Allegany county.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveHornby Forks (Village); Hornby (Township); Hornby Business Notices
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hornby. 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 Hornby.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Hornby’s page.
Retake this view · +15Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1814, according to Wikidata. Hornby’s post office opened in 1826, and the census of 1830 counted 1,572 people here.
Hornby is more historic than 54% 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.
18% of Hornby’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 1974.
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 (2), Wikipedia, 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.
2022