Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 97% of U.S. towns · #95 of 758 in New York. What drives it
12 places in town are on the National Register, among them four historic districts with 81 buildings between them. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1820.
The Mount Morris post office opened in 1818, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, River Road Forks (1828), Tuscarora (1828) and Brooks Grove (1831), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 97% 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 Morris is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns, #95 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age 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 Morris’ 209 sits above most of its state (83% of New York towns have fewer) while its 91 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% 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.
Mount Morris’s post office has been open since 1818. Five 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Mount Morris’s history is told.
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 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mount Morris.
The region was first settled by Europeans circa 1784. It was first known as "Allens Hill", then as "Richmond Hill". The town was formed from the town of Leicester in 1818. The former Genesee Valley Canal passed through the town.
In 1952 Mount Morris Dam was finished on the Genesee River for flood control.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Mount Morris, cut from the printed page as they were published.
it met with delays, disappointments and embarrassments, and the enterprise was finally wholly abandoned. Subsequently the Genesee Valley Railroad Company built a line from Rochester to Avon, finishing it in 1854; the Avon, Geneseo and Mount Morris Railroad Company extended the line to Mount Morris, opening the road to the public in 185"); and forty years after Dansville celebrated the chartering of her railroad company the cars entered that village for the first time the line having been extended by the Erie and Genesee A'al-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
enterprise was finally wholly abandoned. Subsequently the Genesee Valley Railroad company built a line from Rochester to Avon, finishing it in 1854 ; the Avon, Geneseo and Mount Morris Railroad company extended the line to Mount Morris, opening the road to the public in 1859 ; and forty years after Dansville celebrated the chartering of her railroad company, the cars entered that village for the first time in the fall of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mount Morris Board of Education, and twelve successive years as President of the Livingston County Historical Society, and was at the time of his death President of the Mills VVaterworks Company, and Railroad Commissioner of the town of Mount Morris. The system of waterworks, which has added more than any other enterprise to the welfare of the village, was constructed after plans submitted to the village trustees and the citizens of Mount Morris by Dr.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A large meeting of citizens of the whole town was held in the village of Mount Morris Jan. 11th, 1831, for the purpose of taking steps to oppose the efforts of those who were seeking a division of the town. William A. Mills was called to the chair, and W. H.
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 hereRoss Barnes is born here
Born hereFrancis Bellamy is born here
Born hereJames M. Mead is born here
In the archiveMount Morris, N.Y
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mount Morris.
1905Nunda sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Mount Morris.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Mount Morris’ page.
Retake this view · +15The 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 1,002 and 4,904 people in every census since 1820.
20 censuses, 1820–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mount Morris’ Wikipedia 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 Morris post office opened in 1818, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Mount Morris is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns, #95 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.
12 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Gen. William A. Mills House (listed 1978, the first), and 4 historic districts with 81 contributing buildings. 91 historic buildings in all.
46% of Mount Morris’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1945.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (12), 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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