Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns · #376 of 758 in New York. What drives it
11 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1880.
The Irvington post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Irvington is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #376 of 758 in New York. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls 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 Irvington’s 438 sits above most of its state (90% of New York towns have fewer) while its 286 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Irvington. 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 Irvington.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 3 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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.
1900Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Irvington.
Before the area where Irvington is now located was settled by Europeans, it was inhabited by the Wickquasgeck, a band of the Wappingers, related to the Lenape (Delaware) tribes which dominated lower New York state and New Jersey. The Wickquasgeck still lived in the area as late as 1775.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Irvington, cut from the printed page as they were published.
railway had ever been built. Rut Mount Vernon had no such prior existence. In 1850 there was not even an elementary settlement on the site of the present city. Its very name belongs as strictly to the latter half of the nineteenth century as does the name of Irvington. Larchmont, or any other hamlet exclusively conceived and erected, within the memory of men still living, on the foundations of extemporized enterprise.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
to the Croton River and from the Hudson to the Bronx. He bought additional lands successively as follows: 1081 (confirmed in 1683X, the Pocantico tract, covering the territory around Tarrytown; 1682 (confirmed in 1684), the Bissightick tract, or Irvington; 1082 (confirmed in 1081), the Weckquaesgeck tract, or Dobbs Ferry; 1681 (confirmed in 1081), the Nepperhan tract, stretching from the north line of the present Yonkers to the extreme northern limits of the manor, between the Sawmill and Bronx Rivers; 1085, the equal thirds of his
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 archiveIrvington Nuits crop
Born hereWilliam Black is born here
In the archivePlates 34 and 35- Dobbs Ferry, Hastings upon Hudson, and Irvington
Born hereJ. Butler Wright is born here
In the archiveSailboats on the Hudson at
In the archiveIrvington Hotel and employees, (Irvington, N.Y.)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveSunnyside, Washington Irving's home
Born herePenny Peyser is born here5 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Irvington’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 1,904 people in 1880 to 6,652 in 2020, 3 times over.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Irvington’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Irvington post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Irvington is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #376 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.
29% of Irvington’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.6 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1956.
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 (7), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (3), 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.
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