The story
Read it all →How Kiantone came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Kiantone.
The area was first settled circa 1807. The town of Kiantone was created in 1853 from part of the town of Carroll.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C+History
History · Kiantone
Kiantone’s post office opened in 1855, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 40% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: maps from 1905 on and the census since 1860.
1855first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Quick answers
How Kiantone began
When was Kiantone founded?
1855
The Kiantone post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 552 in 18602020 census: 1,397171 years
How historic is Kiantone?
C+
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Kiantone post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Kiantone’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kiantone is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Kiantone’s overall grade.
Founding era1855, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194023.9% of homes (±6.8) · typical NY town 26.6% · U.S. 8.4%A−National RegisterNo listings counted · typical NY town 12.3 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 40%
NewerOlder
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 Kiantone’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.8 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 Kiantone’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Kiantone’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Kiantone’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Kiantone on the map, 1905 to 1979
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Kiantone. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1905Jamestown sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Kiantone.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Kiantone, 1875–1921
Passages that mention Kiantone, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people1921 · page 58Read the page →
Read the text
Kiantone was now (November 16, 1853) formed from the town of Carroll. Kiantone perpetuates the name of the little Indian village that stood on the banks of the Kiantone creek, within the limits of the town. Kiantone is associated with several names of aboriginal derivation. The Conewango creek, which forms the greater part of its eastern boundary,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Chautauqua County, New York, and its people1921 · page 204Read the page →
Read the text
The first Christian Society of Universalists in Carroll was formed at the present village of Kiantone, Dec. 30, 1853. The constitution and by-laws of the society were subscribed to by about twenty-five persons. A meeting house was built in 1845, and a church was organized November 26, 1853. A constitution, articles of faith and form of church covenant were
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.![Almost simultaneously with the settlement on the Stillwater, commenced the settlement of township i, r. 10, [now Carroll.] We find as original purchasers, as early as 1808, Joel Taylor on lot 51 ; George Sloan, 59, [now in Kiantone.] In 1809, Samuel Anderson, 57, [now in Kiantone;] Charles Boyles, …](https://images.townratings.com/story/29023/bk-23ea6eaa88845c28-l.jpg)
History of Chautauqua County, New York1875 · page 447Read the page →
Read the text
Almost simultaneously with the settlement on the Stillwater, commenced the settlement of township i, r. 10, [now Carroll.] We find as original purchasers, as early as 1808, Joel Taylor on lot 51 ; George Sloan, 59, [now in Kiantone.] In 1809, Samuel Anderson, 57, [now in Kiantone;] Charles Boyles, 62 ; and Isaac Walton, 41. In 1810, Henry Abell, 33, and George W. Fenton, 52. Those, as will be seen, settled in the south-west part of the township. How many of these purchasers became actual settlers does not appear. Altliough the Company's books show no articled lands earlier so far
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Chautauqua County, New York1875 · page 32Read the page →
Read the text
first settlement of the county, of its having not long previously been occu- -pied at various points by Indians. In 1795, when Col. James McMahan passed through this county, upon the Judge Prendergast tract on Connewango creek, in the town of Kiantone, there was an Indian camping ground. There were also to be seen, at the first settlement of the county, near the mouth of the Kiantone, the forms of com hills, upon lands that appeared to have once been cleared, and had since grown up to small shrubbery of thorns and red plum.*
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
Kiantone, 1847 to 1905
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumPeople over time
Kiantone, census by census
Between 491 and 1,443 people in every census since 1860.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Kiantone’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →2 famous people were born in Kiantone
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Kiantone had its own post office from 1855 to 1900.
Kiantone
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Stillwater
1cemetery inside Kiantone
Stillwater
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Kiantone’s history
What year was Kiantone founded?
The Kiantone post office opened in 1855, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Kiantone rank for history?
Kiantone is more historic than 40% 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.
How old are the homes in Kiantone?
24% of Kiantone’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1971.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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), 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.