Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns · #465 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Dodge-Greenleaf House. Below: maps from 1906 on and the census since 1830.
The Mount Hope post office opened in 1816, the earliest record of the town by name. Wikidata gives 1825. Three smaller post offices, New Vernon (1822), Finchville (1826) and Guymard (1866), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 77% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mount Hope is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #465 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Mount Hope’s 6.2 sits near the middle of its state (38% of New York towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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 Mount Hope’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1870 and 1900, then grew 5-fold.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mount Hope’s Wikipedia page.
Mount Hope had its own post office from 1816 to 1901. Three other post offices 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 Mount Hope.
The first known settler of European descent arrived circa 1733.
The town of Mount Hope was created from the towns of Deerpark and Wallkill in 1825.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Mount Hope, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Guymard, in the western part of the town of Mount Hope, was the culmination of the plan of the Gumaer brothers to have a railroad station nearer Gumaer's, which was on the Delaware & Hudson Canal. After the strenuous times of 1857, labor could be obtained at sixty-five cents per day, and the Gumaer brothers decided to build a road from the canal to the Erie railroad, and then the station was named Guymard.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
the only son of William A. and Elizabeth (Calander) Howell. The maternal grandfather of Samuel C. Howell was a- Virginian by birth, and a lieutenant of the Light Horse Cavalry during the Revolutionary War. Our subject at the time of his marriage purchased a small farm in the town of Mount Hope, and to this he added, from time to time, until he owned four hundred acres of valuable land in this and Wallkill towns. When the Erie Railroad was constructed he built the depot and later constructed a hotel and other buildings, and thus the village of Howells was established in his honor. He was the railroad agent and post-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
lo TALES OF AN OLD SEA PORT visions became scarce in one place a region where they were more plentiful was sought. One of his villages was unquestionably upon the slope of Mount Hope. Not many weeks after the landing of the Pilgrims Massasoit had paid them a visit in their new settlement. In July, 1621, Edward Winslow and Stephen Hopkins were sent by Governor Bradford to return the visit. Of what happened to this "em-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
as is almost always the case, the number of the marauding troops was greatly exaggerated and the American commanding officer did not deem himself strong enough to oppose them. Withdrawing in the direction of Mount Hope he left the town to their mercy. The torch was first applied to Parson Burt's house, which stood near the Congregational Meeting House.
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.
Born hereCharles St. John is born here
Born hereGeorge Woodward Greene is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mount Hope. 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 Mount Hope.
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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Mount Hope post office opened in 1816, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1825.
Mount Hope is more historic than 77% of U.S. towns, #465 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.
One place: the Dodge-Greenleaf House (listed 2008).
19% of Mount Hope’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.0 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (3), 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.
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