Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1828.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives New Albion’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Albion is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of New Albion’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 New Albion’s 92.5 sits above most of its state (75% of New York towns have fewer) while its 19 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.6 points). Two sources give 1830.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 New Albion’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
From approximately the 1640s, the area was in the domain of the Seneca tribe and was first settled by outsiders around 1818. The town of New Albion was established in 1830 from part of the town of Little Valley. The oldest business community in the town was New Albion with its first store opening in 1833. (New Albion, while maintaining a cluster of residences, no longer has any businesses.) Later the village of Cattaraugus surpassed New Albion.
"New Albion" is also a name that was once applied to the west coast of North America.
In 1830, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. New Albion’s post office opened in 1828, and the census of 1830 counted 380 people here.
How does New Albion rank for history?
New Albion is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns. 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 New Albion?
One place: the Cattaraugus Village Commercial Historic District (listed 2014).
How old are the homes in New Albion?
56% of New Albion’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.6 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (1), 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) 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.
2017
