Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns · #560 of 758 in New York. What drives it
9 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 20 buildings between them. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and old-book passages.
The Lake George post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Caldwell (1816), Hill View (1877) and Crosbyside (1892), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lake George is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #560 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 Lake George’s 77.2 sits above most of its state (72% of New York towns have fewer) while its 27 historic buildings outnumber those of 81% 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.
Lake George’s post office has been open since 1871. Three 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).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lake George. 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 Lake George.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1854Cottage near Hague, on Lake George, New York
1865Lake George
1865Birch canoe
1898Arch over Shore Road, Ft. Wm. Henry Hotel, Lake Georg…Postcard
1898Arlington and Worden Hotels, Lake George, N. YPostcard
1898Battle Monument (front), Lake George, N. YPostcard
1898Battle Monument (side), Lake George, N. YPostcard
1898Battle of Lake George (Glen Falls Ins. Co.)Postcard
1898Battle of Rogers Rock (Glen Falls Ins. Co.)Postcard
1898D and H Station, Lake George, N. YPostcard
1898Early Morning, Silver Bay, Lake George, N. YPostcard
1898From Sunset Mountain, Silver Bay, Lake George, N. YPostcard
1898Island Harbor, Lake George, N. YPostcard
1898Main Building, Silver Bay, Lake George, N. YPostcard
1898Main Street and Hotel Worden, Lake George, N. YPostcard
1898Paine Grounds looking across Oneita Bay, Lake George,…Postcard
1898Rogers Rock Hotel, Lake George, N.YPostcard
1898Silver Bay Hotel and Grounds, Lake George, N. YPostcardWikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lake George yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Its first post office opened in 1871. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 3,515 in 2010, 3,502 in 2020.
Passages that mention Lake George, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The valleys, which are narrow, contain some fertile alluvion, on secondary limestone. The country embraces about half of the Horicon or Lake George, the greater part of Schroon Lake, the whole of Brant Lake and many smaller ones. Caldwell, the shire town of Warren county, was organized in 1810, and named in honor of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The mysterious game fish of Lake George is the land-locked salmon. At long intervals one is caught on a lake-trout rig, and immediately reveals his identity (and shows his marvelous strength) by dragging the heavy sinker to the top of the water and jumping high in the air, which the lake trout never does; but it is doubtful if any angler on Lake George ever went out with the deliberate purpose
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
About half a mile from the village of Calclwell, the fjouth, or upper end of Lake George, comes in sight, glittering among the verdant hills like a sea of glass. This view is one of extreme beauty, yet in the course of his rambles down the lake, the traveller will obtain others that are finer.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Soon after Mr. Nordberg's dismissal, the colonial authorities found it necessary to establish a small garrison at Lake George, chiefly for the purpose of forwarding supplies to the troops operating on Lake Champlain. May 25, it was voted by the Continental Congress to leave the authorities of New York to decide what troops should be stationed at Lake George. May 30, New York not having raised any troops, Governor
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 archiveCottage near Hague, on Lake George, New YorkIn the archiveLake George
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyIn the archiveArch over Shore Road, Ft. Wm. Henry Hotel, Lake George, N. Y
BuiltWiawaka Holiday House is built
BuiltUS Post Office-Lake George is builtFire 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 sheet.
1911Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Lake George’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Nobody well known was born in Lake George itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
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 Lake George post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Lake George is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #560 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.
9 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Old Warren County Courthouse Complex (listed 1973, the first), 2 historic districts, the Wiawaka Holiday House and the Lake George Battlefield Park Historic District, with 20 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 27 historic buildings in all.
17% of Lake George’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 (15), the Library of Congress (3), the National Register of Historic Places (9), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), 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.
