Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Macomb

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Macomb

Macomb’s post office opened in 1842, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1912 on and the census since 1850.

1842first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Macomb began

When was Macomb founded?

1842

The Macomb post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Washburnville (1837), Pope Mills (1849) and Brasie Corners (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,197 in 18502020 census: 912184 years
Founding year: the first Macomb post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Macomb’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Macomb are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Macomb, and 3 old place names are still on the map.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,816 in 1860; 912 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19124 editions of the USGS map, 1912 to 1961. Watch Macomb change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Macomb’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Macomb’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Macomb had its own post office from 1842 to 1935. Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Washburnville
1837–1842
Macomb
1842–1935
Pope Mills
1849–1936
Brasie Corners
1879–1935
Pleasant Lake
1911–1922
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Brasie CornersPope MillsRuby Corner
Gone or out of use
Bigelow SchoolschoolCalifornia SchoolschoolFarley SchoolschoolHyde SchoolschoolLaidlow SchoolschoolPine Hill SchoolschoolSchool Number 15schoolSchool Number 9schoolSouth Woods SchoolschoolStark Schoolschool
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside Macomb
OldsvillePine HillPleasant LakeWoodworth

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

People over time

Macomb, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0001850190019502000Peak: 1,816

Peaked at 1,816 in 1860; 912 people lived here in 2020.

18 censuses, 1850–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Macomb’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Macomb came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Macomb.

Read it all →

The first settlers of the region arrived after 1810, though early farmsteads had traces of trench enclosures and hearths, suggesting previous Native American settlement of the area.

The town was formed in 1841 from parts of the Towns of Gouverneur and Morristown. In 1842, a small part of the Town of Hammond was added to Macomb.

Mining was an early industrial activity in Macomb, with the St. Lawrence Lead Mining Company having been based nearby.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Macomb, 1837 to 1936

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837Post officeThe Washburnville post office opens
  3. 1842Born hereCharles H. Houghton is born here
  4. 1842Post officeThe Washburnville post office closes
  5. 1842Post officeThe Macomb post office opens
  6. 1849Post officeThe Pope Mills post office opens
  7. 1860CensusPopulation peaks at 1,816
  8. 20th century
  9. 1912On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 1935Post officeThe Macomb post office closes
  11. 1936Post officeThe Pope Mills post office closes
By decade

Macomb, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Harvard Museum of Natural History. Fluorite. Macomb, St. Lawrence Co., NY (DerHexer) 2012-07-202012Harvard Museum of Natural History. Fluorite. Macomb, …
On the map

Macomb on the map, 1912 to 1961

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Macomb. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Macomb on the 1912 USGS mapMacomb on the 1944 USGS mapMacomb on the 1951 USGS mapMacomb on the 1961 USGS map1912Hammond sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Macomb.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Morristown9 historic placesAGouverneur2 historic placesAHammond1 historic placeA−RossieIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDe PeysterIts storyB+De Kalb1 historic placeA−

Questions about Macomb’s history

What year was Macomb founded?

The Macomb post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

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) 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.