1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 2 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1820.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1816.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Mentz’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mentz 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 Mentz’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 Mentz’s 11.4 sits near the middle of its state (48% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings 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 (±7.8 points). Two sources give 1802.
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 Mentz’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The town was formed in 1802 as the "Town of Jefferson" from the town of Aurelius while still part of Onondaga County. On March 30, 1808, the town was renamed to Mentz, as too many towns, villages, and a county had taken the name of Jefferson to honor the past president. The town is part of the Military Tract, and much of the land was given to soldiers who had served in the Revolutionary War. The first settlers built their homes around the Owasco Outlet, which is the outflow of Owasco Lake, one of the smaller Finger Lakes. The Owasco Outlet flows to the Seneca River, which serves as the northern border of the town. The settlers used the Outlet for transportation and for milling.
Nathan Wood, who came in the fall of 1799 and located in the Ward Settlement, in the present town of Throop ; but the first one in the town of Mentz as at present bounded, was Harman Van Vechton, who came in about 1S17 or '18 and located in the village, where he built some time after, the house next north of Masonic Hall.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Cayuga County, New York1908 · page 263Read the page →
Read the text
Ira was formed from Cato, March 16, 182 1. Ledyard was formed from Scipio, January 30, 1823. Locke was formed from Milton, now Genoa, February 20, 1802. Mentz was formed from Aurelius as Jefferson, March 30, 1802, but the name was changed April 6, 1808. Montezuma was formed from Mentz, April 8, 1859.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
feet ; and a correspondent informs me it measures more than seventeen feet in diameter."* The First Presbyterian Church of the Town of Mentz, located in Port Byron, was organized about the beginning of the present century, as early as 1 801, as a Congregational church, and was changed to the Presbyterian form of government in 181 1, when the Presbytery
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
Mentz, 1802 to 1904
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 1802, according to Wikidata. Mentz’s post office opened in 1816, and the census of 1820 counted 3,010 people here.
How does Mentz rank for history?
Mentz 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 Mentz?
One place: the Erie Canal Lock 52 Complex (listed 1998).
How old are the homes in Mentz?
41% of Mentz’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (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), 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.
2012