Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Cedar Lake Methodist Episcopal Church. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1943 on, and the census since 1820.
Litchfield dates its founding to 1786 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1820.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Litchfield is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull 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 Litchfield’s 7.1 sits near the middle of its state (40% of New York towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Litchfield’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1830 and 1930, then more than doubled.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Litchfield’s Wikipedia page.
Litchfield had its own post office from 1810 to 1901. Two 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Litchfield.
The town of Litchfield was established from part of the town of German Flatts in 1796. Part of the town was used to form the town of Winfield in 1816.
12-year-old Sara Anne Wood disappeared from Litchfield in 1993.
"Litchfield Penitentiary", a fictional women's prison in Litchfield, is the setting for the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Litchfield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In 1820, Litchfield contained 1 meeting house, 3 school houses, 1 tavern, 4 saw mills, and 2 grain mills.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
There are a few small hamlets in Litchfield, but no village of importance. Cedarville, a part of which is in the town, has been sufficiently noticed in the history of Columbia. Crane's Corners (Litchfield postoffice) is in the northeastern part of the town, and was named after Harry Crane, before named as an early settler, who kept a tavern there in early
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The town of Litchfield is divided into nine school districts, and while there is no institution of learning in the town of higher grade than the common schools, these are kept up with sufficient vigor to suffice for the needs of the community.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
capable of affording much protection. As early as 1710 settlements were made in Hudson. Londonderry (then called Nutfield) was settled in 1719, and Litchfield (then called Brenton's Farm, or by its ancient Indian name, Naticook) in 1720. Chester was also settled in 1720, and Merrimac and Pelham in 1722. During the years 1722- 3-4, frequent ravages were committed and much
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.
Born hereJohn Curtiss Underwood is born here
Born herePhilo Remington is born here
Born hereAdelbert Cronkhite is born here
In the archiveSusquehanna River near Litchfield, N.Y
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Litchfield.
1943Millers Mills sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Litchfield.
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 Litchfield’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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1786, according to Wikidata. Litchfield’s post office opened in 1810, and the census of 1820 counted 1,729 people here.
Litchfield is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns. 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 Cedar Lake Methodist Episcopal Church (listed 2020).
24% of Litchfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.9 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (2), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
1890
2012