Founding year: the first Monticello post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Monticello’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Monticello is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #250 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Monticello’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 Monticello’s 107 sits above most of its state (76% of New York towns have fewer) while its 78 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.7 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 Monticello’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
In 1801, Samuel F. Jones was given the task of finding a route for the Newburgh and Cochecton Turnpike to connect The Hudson and Delaware Rivers. While he marked the path through what was then Orange and Ulster counties he saw an opportunity to build a village on the turnpike. Samuel convinced his younger brother, John Patterson Jones, to buy a 1861-acre tract of land that would be bisected by the turnpike so they could build this new village. In 1803, John and 11 other men started work on a sawmill, and other infrastructure to help them build the village. The group left the area during the winter but would return in the early months of 1804 to continue their work. In spring of the same year the route for the turnpike was finalized and the two brothers started to plan the village. After the plan was completed, the first tree was chopped down by John September 4, 1804, on the property th…
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.
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 Monticello post office opened in 1811, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Monticello rank for history?
Monticello is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #250 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 Monticello?
24% of Monticello’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1968.
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) and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1875
2008