The Lisle post office opened in 1802, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Union Village (1824) and Center Lisle (1828), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 3,083 in 18202020 census: 2,691224 years
How historic is Lisle?
B
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Lisle post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Lisle’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lisle is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #576 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lisle’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 Lisle’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 C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.1 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 Lisle’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area that is now the town of Lisle was first settled around 1791. The town was formed from the town of Union in 1801. Later, parts of Lisle were used to form new towns in the county: in 1831, a division of Lisle into four parts created three new towns: Barker, Nanticoke, and Triangle.
John D. Rockefeller's birthplace is located northeast of Lisle by a few miles in Richford, New York and his relatives lived in Lisle. Rockefeller's father lived outside the morals of the Lisle community since he had two wives.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Lisle post office opened in 1802, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lisle rank for history?
Lisle is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #576 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 Lisle?
26% of Lisle’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (11), the Library of Congress (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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