Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 21% of U.S. towns · #735 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Most of New Hempstead was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1966. Below: maps from 1910 on and the census since 1990.
New Hempstead dates its founding to 1983 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1990.
More historic than 21% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Hempstead is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #735 of 758 in New York. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Hempstead’s 7.3 sits near the middle of its state (41% of New York towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how New Hempstead’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Hempstead. 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 New Hempstead.
From Wikipedia’s history of New Hempstead.
New Hempstead was incorporated on March 21, 1983. Joseph Berger of the New York Times said in a 1997 article that New Hempstead was one of several villages formed in Ramapo by non-Jews and more secular Jews "to preserve the sparse Better Homes and Garden [sic] ambiance that attracted them to Rockland County."
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention New Hempstead, cut from the printed page as they were published.
of Hempstead, Queens county, Long Island, and was one of the company who purchased the north moiety of Kakiat Patent, in 1719, and, coming to this county, founded the village of New Hempstead. He seems to have been a man of active enterprise and great business capacity, and in addition to his first purchase he also became the owner of the larger part of De Harte's Pattent, which now includes the flourishing villages of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
were trustees, was authorized to issue stock to the amount of 640 shares, at $25 a share, and to build a turnpike, “to begin at the dwelling house of John Suffern, situated in the town of New Hempstead, from thence in a direct course, as nearly as may be, to such a point in the village of Waynesburgh, late Warren (now Haverstraw), as the commissioners, Edward Suffern, John Knap, John D. Coe, Josiah Conklin, Elias Gurnee,
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.
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.
Between 4,200 and 5,463 people in every census since 1990.
4 censuses, 1990–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New Hempstead’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in New Hempstead itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1983, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. New Hempstead’s post office opened in 1829, and the census of 1990 counted 4,200 people here.
New Hempstead is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns, #735 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% of New Hempstead’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (2), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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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