Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 95% of U.S. towns · #136 of 758 in New York. What drives it
14 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1840.
The Lancaster post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 95% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lancaster is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #136 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age 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 Lancaster’s 103 sits above most of its state (76% of New York towns have fewer) while its 104 historic buildings outnumber those of 90% 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.
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.
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.
1885Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lancaster. 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 Lancaster.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lancaster.
In 1803, the Holland Land Company sold its first plot of land in the future town. The town of Lancaster was formed from the town of Clarence in 1833. The town was named after Lancaster, Massachusetts, but the reason for applying this name is not known. Originally called "Cayuga Creek", the town later incorporated and obtained the current name.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Lancaster, cut from the printed page as they were published.
At the death of tliis lady, which occun-ed in the year 1348, all the lands of that oi-eat inheritance, which descended to her from Henry de Lacy, late eaii of Lincoln, by virtue of the grant made by her father, and by the gi-ant of king Edward I. came to Henry, earl of Lancaster, afterwards the duke of Lancaster; which lands lay in Blackbumsliii-e, Rochdale, Tottington, and Penwortham, in thecounty of Lancaster; Halton, in the county of Chester; Bowland and Snaith, in the county of York; and divers other parts of the kingdom.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ing to the table of fees payable to the prothonotary, 6s. 8d. is paid on a seai'ch for each reign, and to the cust. rot. one sliilling. For an office copy for each sheet of seventy-two words, and duty, one sliilling ; and for a certificate of a copy, if required, 3s. 6d. Searches among the records kept at Lancaster are usually made dining the time of the assizes, when the prothonotary's office is held at Lancaster ; but when a search is required at any other time, the deputy prothonotary charges a reasonable extra sum for his journey and expenses. If a record is to be produced in the court at Lancaster, tlie deputy prothonotary, or his clerk, attends upon a
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Capt. Wadsworth, who was then stationed at Marlborough, hearing of the distress at Lancaster, hastened to their relief, and stationed his soldiers in the different garrison houses, for the protection of the people. They remained there about six weeks, and could not venture out night or day, without endangering their lives. Capt. Wadsworth lost one of his soldiers while thus quartered.
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 archiveEast Part of Lancaster (Village)
Born hereIron Davis is born here
Born hereDorothy Thompson is born here
In the archive51909.BB#001--H.J. Sheperds coal shed and scale--Lancaster, NY [1900.02.02]
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveChristian Freiderich Lindauer (1821-1916) in the Lancaster Enterprise of Lancaster, New Y…3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Lancaster’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 2,083 people in 1840 to 45,106 in 2020, more than tenfold.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lancaster’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
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 Lancaster post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Lancaster is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #136 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.
14 listings: 1 historic district, the Broadway Historic District,. 104 historic buildings in all.
40% of Lancaster’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.0 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1952.
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 (7), Wikidata (1), 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), 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.
1880
1880
2026
2026