The Locke post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Milan (1816), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 2,559 in 18202020 census: 1,879209 years
How historic is Locke?
B
More historic than 63% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Locke post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Locke’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Locke is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns. 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 Locke’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 Locke’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 (±7.7 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 Locke’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Locke was in the Central New York Military Tract, used to pay soldiers of the American Revolution. The first settlers arrived in 1790. They found evidence of earlier Native American occupants in the form of ruined villages and burial grounds.
The town of Locke was formed in 1802 from the town of Genoa, then known as "Milton". Part of Locke was used in 1817 to form the town of Groton (now in Tompkins County). Another division of Locke in 1831 formed the town of Summerhill.
A devastating fire in 1912 destroyed approximately thirty buildings in Locke village.
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 Locke post office opened in 1817, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Locke rank for history?
Locke is more historic than 63% 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.
How old are the homes in Locke?
26% of Locke’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 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 (9), Wikipedia, 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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