Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns · #246 of 758 in New York. What drives it
13 places in town are on the National Register, among them 3 National Historic Landmarks and four historic districts with 83 buildings between them. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1790.
More historic than 91% 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 Pleasant is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #246 of 758 in New York. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Pleasant’s 21.2 sits near the middle of its state (57% of New York towns have fewer) while its 95 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 3 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
★ Landmark
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Mount Pleasant had its own post office from 1797 to 1830. Nine 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).
Lost half of its people between 1840 and 1850, then grew more than tenfold.
22 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Mount Pleasant’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Mount Pleasant.
The John D. Rockefeller Estate Kykuit in Pocantico Hills was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976 as a National Historic Landmark.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveNear Mount Pleasant
Born hereJohn Lorimer Worden is born here
In the archiveNear Mount Pleasant looking up river to Haverstraw peak
Born hereJames William Beekman Jr. is born here
BuiltSleepy Hollow Cemetery is built
In the archivePlate 48- Town of Mt. Pleasant, Westchester Co. N.Y
In the archivePlates 40 and 41- Town of Mount Pleasant, Westchester Co. N.YBuiltTarrytown Lighthouse is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveCatskill Mountains: scene near Mt. Pleasant, N.YBuiltPhilipse Manor Railroad Station is builtBuiltUnion Church of Pocantico Hills is built
Born hereLarry James is born here6 decades in the archive, from the 1800s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1868Plate 48- Town of Mt. Pleasant, Westchester Co. N.Y1872Plates 40 and 41- Town of Mount Pleasant, Westchester…1905Catskill Mountains: scene near Mt. Pleasant, N.Y
1905Catskill Mountains: Devall Hollow Creek, Mt. Pleasant…
1905Catskill Mountains: scene on Esopus Creek, Mt. Pleasa…
1905Catskill Mountains: Ulster and Delaware Railroad Stat…
1905Catskill Mountains: Bridge over Esopus Creek, leading…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Mount Pleasant. 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 Pleasant.
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 Pleasant’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Mount Pleasant is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #246 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.
13 listings, 3 of them National Historic Landmarks: 8 buildings, among them the Dutch Reformed Church (a National Historic Landmark since 1961), 4 historic districts with 83 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 95 historic buildings in all.
29% of Mount Pleasant’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1957.
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 (9), the Library of Congress (8), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (13), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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