The Milan post office opened in 1818, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Shookville (1827), Jackson Corners (1835) and Rock City (1836), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,797 in 18202020 census: 2,245208 years
How historic is Milan?
B−
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Milan post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Milan’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Milan is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Milan’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 Milan’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 C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.3 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 Milan’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The area that comprises Milan today was the western part of the Little Nine Partners Patent of 1706. Milan was largely a farming and mill town and remains very rural.
The first settler in the area was Johannes Rowe. The son of a Palatine immigrant, Rowe bought 911 acres (3.69 km2) from Robert Livingston, 3rd Lord of the Manor of Livingston, and built a stone house in 1766 on what is now Rowe Road near the Milan Town Hall. The remains of the house were photographed in 1940 for the Historic American Buildings Survey.
Passages that mention Milan, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Isabella of Milan, Princess d'Aragona, and wife of Duke Gian Galeazzo Sforza1911 · page 71Read the page →
Read the text
It took place in the old chapel of the Visconti, belonging to the Castello of Pavia, with only a select few of the relations and courtiers, for most of the Court, with our Duke and Duchess of Milan at their head, were to welcome the bridal party in Milan itself. The next day, Wednesday, Duke Lodovico came here to make sure that all was ready for the final reception, and invitations were sent to all the great nobles of State and foreign Princes
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Isabella of Milan, Princess d'Aragona, and wife of Duke Gian Galeazzo Sforza1911 · page 90Read the page →
Read the text
The French King shows every desire to be friendly to the ruler of Milan, and has promised his consent to the application made him for renewing the investiture of Genoa, which his father, Louis XL, granted to the Duke Francesco of Milan. Great preparations have been made for the reception of the French ambassadors, who have just arrived in our city to carry out this purpose.
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
Milan, 1815 to 2010
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.
The Milan post office opened in 1818, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Milan rank for history?
Milan is more historic than 50% 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.
How old are the homes in Milan?
14% of Milan’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1980.
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), 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.
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