Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Pines, The and the Wildwood Cemetery and Mary Lyon Fisher Memorial Chapel. Below: maps from 1905 on and the census since 1880.
Lyonsdale dates its founding to 1819 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 82% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lyonsdale is more historic than 82% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 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 Lyonsdale’s 60.4 sits above most of its state (70% of New York towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Lyonsdale’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lyonsdale. 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 Lyonsdale.
Lyonsdale had its own post office from 1830 to 1922.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Lyonsdale.
The community of Lyonsdale was settled in 1819. Caleb Lyons, the town founder, was an advocate of the Black River Canal. The town was formed from the town of Greig in 1873. The traditional economy has been based on forest products, such as wood pulp.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Lyonsdale, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Greig, he undertook, in 1819, the agency of the Brantingham Tract, in which that gentleman was concerned. In 1823, he settled at Lyonsdale, where he built a bridge in 1829, and a grist-mill in 1830 -31. There were but one or two settlers in town when he came on as agent. He was elected to the Assembly of 1824,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
discharge of official trusts, with an ability and simplicity worthy of imitation. While holding the office of County Judge, Mr. Seger lived in Martinsburgh, but his principal home was in the present town of Lyonsdale. east of the river, and within view of the High Falls. He died there, in 1872.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
Between 762 and 1,475 people in every census since 1880.
14 censuses, 1880–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lyonsdale’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1819, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Lyonsdale’s post office opened in 1830, and the census of 1880 counted 1,475 people here.
Lyonsdale is more historic than 82% 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.
Two places: the Pines, The (listed 2007) and the Wildwood Cemetery and Mary Lyon Fisher Memorial Chapel (2011).
16% of Lyonsdale’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 1980.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
