Its Register listings are the Peck Memorial Library and the Tarbell Building. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1820.
The Marathon post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Harrison (1821) and Texas Valley (1850), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 807 in 18202020 census: 2,038197 years
How historic is Marathon?
A
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Marathon post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Marathon’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marathon is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Marathon’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 Marathon’s 9.8 sits near the middle of its state (45% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.2 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 Marathon’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Marathon is within the bounds of the former Central New York Military Tract. The first settlers arrived in 1794.
The town was formed from part of the town of Cincinnatus as the "Town of Harrison" in 1818. The name was changed to "Marathon" in 1828 because another town in New York was named Harrison. The present name is after the Battle of Marathon. The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad's Syracuse Branch through Marathon opened on October 18, 1854.
The village of Marathon set itself off from the town in 1861 by incorporation.
Marathon. — The territory embraced within the boundaries of Marathon,* was set off from the south-west quarter of Cincinnatus, April 21, 1818, and organized into a town under the name of Harrison, in honor of Gen. Harrison, of the late war, but was subsequently changed to Marathon, on account of there being another town of the same name in the State. The first actual settlers of this town were Dr. Japheth Hunt and wife,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
of the Tioughnioga from the south, in canoes, in the year 1794, and located on a piece of land on the east side of the river, about a mile south of the present village of Marathon, since known as the Comstock farm and now owned by Edward Moore. Their log house was erected a few miles north of Mr. Moore's barn, on a knoll, or rolling piece of ground, immediately west, and near the present highway. Upon this rising ground
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
partially opened as a State road, by the way of Oxford westerly through the centre of the town subsequently organized as Cincinnatus, and consequently on the north line of the present town of Marathon, and crossing the river at Chaplin's ford, now known as State Bridge, and thence westerly through the county by Virgil Corners.
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
Marathon, 1821 to 1991
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Marathon post office opened in 1829, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Marathon rank for history?
Marathon is more historic than 87% 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.
What is on the National Register in Marathon?
Two places: the Peck Memorial Library (listed 1992) and the Tarbell Building (2000).
How old are the homes in Marathon?
40% of Marathon’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1956.
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 (6), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
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