Mount Kisco’s post office opened in 1850, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns · #661 of 758 in New York. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 2 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: the first Mount Kisco post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Mount Kisco’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mount Kisco is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #661 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mount Kisco’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 Mount Kisco’s 4.7 sits below most of its state (34% of New York towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% 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 (±4.0 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 Mount Kisco’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.
1885Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Famous people
34 famous people were born in Mount Kisco
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The name Kisco may be connected to the Munsee word asiiskuw ("mud"), and the name of the settlement "first appeared in colonial records as Cisqua, the name of a meadow and river mentioned in the September 6, 1700 Indian deed to land in the area." The spelling Mount Kisko was used by the local postmaster when a post office was opened in the village sometime after 1850. The current spelling of the name was adopted in 1875, with the settlement's incorporation as a village. The town shares its name with the Kisco River, which traverses the town and goes into the New Croton Reservoir.
As a village, Mount Kisco originally was half in the town of Bedford and half in the town of New Castle. Mount Kisco became a town in its own right in 1978.
Passages that mention Mount Kisco, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Westchester County, New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 19001900 · page 589Read the page →
Read the text
Bedford. Population, 3,639. Local particulars: — 1. Bedford; contained a court house (still in use in 1860), two churches, the Bedford Academy, a Eemale Institute, and thirty houses. 2 Bedford Station, on the Harlem Railroad; contained ten houses. 3. Katonah; contained thirty houses. 4. Mount Kisco, a station on the Harlem Railroad; contained 200 inhabitants. 5. Whitlockville, « a station on the Harlem Railroad near the north border." Cortlandt.— Population, 10,074. Local particulars :— 1 . Peekskill ; an incorporated village ; population, 3,538; contained ten churches, the Peekskill Academy, four boarding schools, a bank, newspaper office, six iron foundries (chiefly engaged in the manufacture of stoves and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Westchester County, New York, from its earliest settlement to the year 19001900 · page 633Read the page →
Read the text
Mount Kisco (incorporated village), 589. 591. 611. 619. 620. 627. Mount Pleasant (township), created a town by the act of 1788, 532: Ossining set off from, 575: the town and its villages in 1860, 591: population at various periods, 533, 539. 542. 577, 591, 605, 612. 620: other references, 160. 544, 599.
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
Mount Kisco, 1850 to 1960
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 Mount Kisco post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Mount Kisco rank for history?
Mount Kisco is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #661 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.
What is on the National Register in Mount Kisco?
4 listings: 2 buildings, among them the United Methodist Church and Parsonage (listed 1982, the first), 1 historic district, the Mount Kisco Municipal Complex, with 2 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 5 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Mount Kisco?
17% of Mount Kisco’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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