Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Tyler A. McNeil · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 94% of U.S. towns · #166 of 758 in New York. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 56 buildings between them. Below: maps from 1893 on and the census since 1820.
Nassau dates its founding to 1806 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1820.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Nassau is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #166 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 Nassau’s 140 sits above most of its state (79% of New York towns have fewer) while its 63 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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.
Nassau’s post office has been open since 1810. Six 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 Nassau’s history is told.
Lost a third of its people between 1850 and 1920, then more than doubled.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Nassau’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Nassau.
The town was originally formed as the "Town of Philipstown" in 1806 from parts of the Towns of Petersburgh, Schodack, and Stephentown. The town changed its name to "Nassau" in 1808, in honor of Fort Nassau, the first settlement by the Dutch in what is now New York.
The Henry Tunis Smith Farm was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
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.
Born hereFenner Ferguson is born here
Born hereJohn Augustus Griswold is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Nassau. 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 Nassau.
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.
In 1806, according to Wikidata. Nassau’s post office opened in 1807, and the census of 1820 counted 2,873 people here.
Nassau is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #166 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.
6 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Henry Tunis Smith Farm (listed 1975, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Church Street Historic District, the Newton-Taber-Martin Farm and the Albany Avenue Historic District, with 56 contributing buildings. 63 historic buildings in all.
34% of Nassau’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1961.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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.
