Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1860.
The Montezuma post office opened in 1820, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Fox Ridge (1886), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Montezuma is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Montezuma’s 15.7 sits near the middle of its state (52% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Montezuma’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Montezuma. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Montezuma.
Montezuma’s post office has been open since 1820. Another post office, Fox Ridge, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Montezuma.
This was part of the large territory occupied and controlled by the Five Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy as well established before any European colonization. Most Europeans during the colonial period did not penetrate this far west but had relations with the Mohawk nation to the East for trading.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Montezuma, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The well here referred to is doubtless the one sunk in 1839, by Solomon P. Jacobs, then State Superintendent of Salt Works, back of the present grist-mill in the village of Montezuma. It was carried to a depth of 650 feet. About 1858 the State appropriated $7,000 to develop the Montezuma salt springs. Col. John S. Clark and William II. Carpenter, of Auburn,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
St. John's Church, (Roman Catholic,) at Port Byron, was organized about 1858, the Catholics in Montezuma being largely instrumental in its formation. The priests who have officiated are those who have ministered to the church in Montezuma, who have generally been stationed at Weedsport.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The 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 669 and 1,439 people in every census since 1860.
16 censuses, 1860–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Montezuma’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Montezuma itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Montezuma post office opened in 1820, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Montezuma is more historic than 68% 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.
Two places: the Mentz Church (listed 2004) and the Seneca River Crossing Canals Historic District (2005).
11% of Montezuma’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1987.
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 (7), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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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