The Kirkwood post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Kirkwood Center (1861), Riverside (1870) and Brook Vale (1873), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,389 in 18602020 census: 5,481176 years
How historic is Kirkwood?
C
More historic than 28% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Kirkwood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Kirkwood’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kirkwood is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #727 of 758 in New York. 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 Kirkwood’s 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 Kirkwood’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 C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.3 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 Kirkwood’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Kirkwood’s post office has been open since 1850. Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Kirkwood
1850–today
Kirkwood Center
1861–1910
Riverside
1870–1911
Brook Vale
1873–1902
Langdon
1886–1910
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BrookvaleFivemile PointKirkwood CenterKirkwood Mobile Home CourtLangdonPopes RavineRiverside
Gone or out of use
Acre SchoolschoolBarlow SchoolschoolKirkwood AirparkairportSchool Number 10schoolSchool Number 11schoolSchool Number 6schoolSchool Number 8schoolSchool Number 9school
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Kirkwood
BrookvaleRiversideState Road
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Kirkwood’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Kirkwood’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
c. 1781, Jonathan Fitch built a water-powered gristmill at what is present-day Fivemile Point, becoming the first settler to live in the area. Many others arrived in the years following and settled on the Susquehanna River, enabling the area (which was then a part of the larger town of Conklin) to develop into a location more suitable for an agrarian lifestyle. Evidence of pre-colonial history can be found in the form of Native American artifacts along the river, many of which can still be found today.
The Kirkwood post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Kirkwood rank for history?
Kirkwood is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #727 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 Kirkwood?
13% of Kirkwood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (8), 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) 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.
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