Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1855.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Marilla’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marilla is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns, #710 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Marilla’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 Marilla’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 D to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.6 points). Two sources give 1853.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Marilla’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
This part of the county was first settled around 1827. At the time, the land where Marilla sits (along with neighboring Elma) was part of the Buffalo Creek Reservation, and members of the Ebenezer Society were the first to settle on the Seneca lands. The land was opened to general settlement shortly after the Treaty of Buffalo Creek was finalized in 1842.
The town of Marilla was organized in 1853 from parts of the towns of Alden and Wales. Marilla Rogers gave her name to this town; she died in 1855 when she was 38, just two years after the town was given the name.
Located on Two Rod Road is one of the town's oldest stores: the historic Marilla General Store, currently known as the Marilla Country Store.
Passages that mention Marilla, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of the original town of Concord1883 · page 896Read the page →
Read the text
Mr. Foster was in debt for his land, having made but partial payments on his purchase. He was unable to buy a team, and make payment on his land. In this crisis of his affairs Joshua Axtel, the keeper of a small grocery in' the Village of Marilla, offered to purchase the land ; a bargain was made, Mr. Foster taking in payment the grocery store and stock of goods, valued at five hundred dollars, an eighty acre lot in Wisconsin and a mortgage of $300 on land in the Town of Darien. Failing to
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
Marilla, 1853 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.
In 1853, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Marilla’s post office opened in 1855, and the census of 1860 counted 1,596 people here.
How does Marilla rank for history?
Marilla is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns, #710 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 Marilla?
22% of Marilla’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.6 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 (8), Wikipedia, 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.
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