Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1815.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lake Luzerne’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lake Luzerne is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #481 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lake Luzerne’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 Lake Luzerne’s 3.2 sits below most of its state (30% of New York towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1792.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.6 points).
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Lake Luzerne’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area received its first permanent European settlers around 1770. The town of Lake Luzerne was set off from the town of Queensbury in 1792 as the Town of Fairfield. The town is named after Anne-César, Chevalier de la Luzerne, who guaranteed a personal loan to provide food to American revolutionary troops and who served as a French Minister to the new country.
In 1808, the town changed its name to Luzerne and in 1963 to Lake Luzerne.
In 1792, according to Wikidata. Lake Luzerne’s post office opened in 1815, and the census of 1820 counted 1,430 people here.
How does Lake Luzerne rank for history?
Lake Luzerne is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #481 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.
What is on the National Register in Lake Luzerne?
One place: the Woodward Hall (listed 2014).
How old are the homes in Lake Luzerne?
26% of Lake Luzerne’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (4), 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 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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