Founding year: the first Morrisville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Morrisville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Morrisville is more historic than 90% 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 Morrisville’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 Morrisville’s 25.1 sits near the middle of its state (59% of New York towns have fewer) while its 4 listings outnumber those of 68% 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 (±11.8 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 Morrisville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The community was named for Thomas Morris and was originally called "Morris Flats". It was made the county seat in 1817 when it was moved from Cazenovia. In 1907 the county seat was moved again, this time to Wampsville. In 1908, the New York State School of Agriculture was established and occupied the old county buildings that had been left empty.
The First National Bank of Morrisville, Morrisville Public Library, and Old Madison County Courthouse are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Passages that mention Morrisville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Madison County, state of New York1872Read the page →
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Lewis Wilbur was executed in the jail at Morrisville, in the year 1839, for the murder of Robert Barber, in the town of Sullivan. In the year 1853, John Hadcock was tried here for the murder of Mrs Gregg, in Stockbridge, and on February 23, 1854, was executed in the jail yard.* Here many a poor man has been confined on the jail limits for debt. We are given an instance of one man, who, coming into the new country with small means, soon ex-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Madison county, state of New York1900 · page 316Read the page →
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The N. Y. State Gazetteer of 1842, gives Morrisville 130 dwelling houses and 700 inhabitants. The County buildings were " composed of a Court House, County Clerk's Office and a Jail, very pleasantly situated ; an incorporated Academy, three Churches, — the Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist ; — a printing office, silk factory, distillery, tannery, woolen factory, iron foundry, machine shop, grist mill, saw mill, five stores and two taverns."
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Madison County, state of New York1872Read the page →
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ed Hamilton, Madison and Oriskany in 1850; in the same year Georgetown and Pecksport were united by a road passing through West Eaton and Eaton. During the year 185 1, a plank road was laid from Morrisville to Canastota, and another from Peterboro to Clarksville was in progress. A very principal plank road extended from DcRuyter to Oneida Lake, through New Woodstock, Cazenovia, Chittenango and its depots, a distance of thirty-one miles. It
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.
The Morrisville post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Morrisville rank for history?
Morrisville is more historic than 90% 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 Morrisville?
41% of Morrisville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.8 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1958.
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), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people 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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