Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1870.
Mayville dates its founding to 1804 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1870.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mayville is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Mayville’s 7.9 sits near the middle of its state (42% of New York towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Mayville’s history is told.
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.
1895Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mayville.
The Holland Land Company anticipated establishing a village located at the eastern end of the Old Portage Road between Lake Erie and Chautauqua Lake. In 1804, the area was surveyed by William Peacock. In 1805, the village was named Mayville in honor of Elisabeth Busti (née May), wife of Paul Busti, Agent General of the Holland Land Company.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Mayville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Tuesday Club of Mayville, organized in 1895, "with the object of attaining a higher, broader and truer culture," is the mother of Mayville's Free Library and now an incorporated body with a good library conducted under the name, The Tuesday Club Library of Mayville. The Critical Club of Mayville was organized by Miss Aimee Tourgee, its membership mostly teachers and literary young ladies.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mayville Academy was incorporated in 1834; Jamestown Academy in 1836; Dunkirk Academy in 1837; Westfield Academy in 1839; and Ellington Academy in 1851. in 1836 provisions were made establishing school district libraries. The common school system, however, remained substantially unchanged until 1843, when town commissioners and inspectors
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
tract of 40,000 acres on the Genesee river, he laid out and surveyed the site for the present city of Buffalo and other places ; and subsequently surveyed the lands in Mayville and vicinity, and the village of Ellicottville. In 1810, he commenced his agency, at Mayville, for the Holland Company, which agency he held until the Company sold out its unsold lands, in 1836.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
elected sheriff and became a lifelong resident onMayville. Amos K. Warren, afterwards sheriff, came to Mayville to reside in 1862. One of the most important events favorably affecting the interests of Mayville was the building of the Buffalo & Oil Creek cross-cut railroad, now the Western New York <S: Pennsylvania railroad, chartered in 1865. It runs from Brocton through ]\Iayville to Corry, Pa. Its length was 43.2 miles, 37.2 in this state.
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.
In the archiveMayville Lighthouse
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2017Camp chq animals grp 1DSC 0637
2017Camp chq animals grp 1DSC 0627
2017Camp chq animals grp 1DSC 0626
2017Camp chq animals grp 1DSC 0594
2017Camp chq animals grp 1DSC 0566
2017Camp chq animals grp 1DSC 0565
2017Camp chq animals grp 1DSC 0563
2014Chautauqua County Courthouse
2010Subaru Legacy 30th
2008New York State Routes 394 and 430 in
2008394chautauqualakeThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mayville.
1954Westfield sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Mayville.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Mayville’s page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 701 and 1,756 people in every census since 1870.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mayville’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1804, according to Wikidata. Mayville’s post office opened in 1812, and the census of 1870 counted 701 people here.
Mayville is more historic than 84% 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.
40% of Mayville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.8 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1952.
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 Wikimedia Commons (12), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.