Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 83% of U.S. towns · #379 of 758 in New York. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 10 buildings. Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 1910.
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, Lackawanna is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #379 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 Lackawanna’s 5.1 sits near the middle of its state (35% of New York towns have fewer) while its 10 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Lackawanna’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lackawanna. 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 Lackawanna.
Peaked at 29,564 in 1960; 19,949 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lackawanna’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lackawanna.
Originally part of the Buffalo Creek Reservation, the area was not open to settlement until 1842 when the Seneca Indians sold it. In 1851 the town of Seneca was formed; the name was changed to West Seneca in 1852. The area now known as Lackawanna was then called West Seneca or Limestone Hill.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Lackawanna, cut from the printed page as they were published.
of the planes and the light track, to its junction with the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company's Railroad at Green Ridge in the City of Scranton, now the seat of justice of the new county of Lackawanna. Passing through the townships of Newport, Hanover, Wilkes-Barre, Plains, Jenkins, Pittston and Lackawanna; connecting at Wilkes- Barre with the tracks of the Plymouth and Wilkes- Barn- Railroad and Bridge Company, and opening as it does
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
An ample area of the ground, near the center of the city of Scranton, was donated as a site for the courity buildings and a public park, by the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company and the representatives of the Susquehanna and Wyoming Railroad and Coal Company- Courts were at first held in the Washington Hall building, on the corner of Lackawanna and Penn avenues, and the county offices kept in the Second National Bank build-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
whose interests lay mainly in the development of the mineral resources of Wyoming Valley, secured the charter for, and in 1854 proceeded to build the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad, extending from Scranton to Rupert, Pennsylvania, first, and then to Northumberland, and now forming a part of the extensive and important Lackawanna railroad system. Judge Rey-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Lackawanna and Bloomsburg Railroad, Avhile it is a valuable auxiliary to the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, in wdiose interests it is operated, enjoyed all the advantages of travel between central Pennsylvania and the Lackawanna Yaliey until the Lehigh and Susquehanna and the Lehigh Yaliey railroads, bounding over the mountain with the celerity and speed of a deer, alienated d portion of the trade and travel.
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.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
1915Sheet 1 of 18Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Lackawanna is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #379 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.
One place: the Our Lady of Victory National Shrine and Basilica Historic District (listed 2024).
31% of Lackawanna’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1954.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, 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.
