Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1811.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Louisville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Louisville is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #663 of 758 in New York. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Louisville’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 Louisville’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 B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.7 points). Two sources give 1810.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Louisville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Nahum Wilson, originally from Peru, NY, and his family were the first to settle the area in April 1800.
The town was established in 1810 from part of the Town of Massena. Almost half of Louisville was lost to form the Town of Norfolk in 1823. Part of the lost territory was returned from the Town of Norfolk in 1844. An attempt to take part of Louisville for the Town of Massena in 1849 was rejected.
prosperity of our town, and that we respectfully solicit the legislature of this State to incorporate a company with competent powers and capital to effect the erection of such a bridge, and that the city of Louisville, when incorporated, should be authorised to raise funds, by loan or otherwise, and to subscribe for dollars of stock in said company.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
natural depot for Southern cotton, but if the cotton raised in Alabama, Tennessee and ISTorth Mississippi, or that which finds its way to market down the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, can be placed in Louisville at less rates of freight than would be charged to Kew Orleans, and thence can reach the Eastern markets in less time and at less rates than from that city, it is surely the interest of both seller and buyer to make Louisville their
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.
Timeline
Louisville, 1810 to 2000
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Louisville had its own post office from 1811 to 1929. Another post office, Louisville Landing, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Louisville
1811–1929
Louisville Landing
1850–1917
Chase Mills
1853–today
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Chase MillsDishawLouisville CornerTucker Terrace
Gone or out of use
Louisville LandinglocaleLouisville Landing ChurchchurchRichards LandinglocaleSchool Number 1schoolSchool Number 10schoolSchool Number 12schoolSchool Number 13schoolSchool Number 2schoolSchool Number 2schoolSchool Number 3schoolSchool Number 5schoolSchool Number 6schoolSchool Number 9school
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Louisville
BradfordLawrenceSaint LawrenceWright
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1810, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Louisville’s post office opened in 1811, and the census of 1820 counted 831 people here.
How does Louisville rank for history?
Louisville is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #663 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 Louisville?
15% of Louisville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.7 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1986.
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), 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.
