Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns · #245 of 758 in New York. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and old-book passages.
The New Paltz post office opened in 1809, the earliest record of the town by name.
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, New Paltz is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #245 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 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 New Paltz’s 194 sits above most of its state (82% of New York towns have fewer) while its 161 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% 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.
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.
1894Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 2 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of New Paltz yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Its first post office opened in 1809. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 6,818 to 7,324 (+7%).
Passages that mention New Paltz, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Freer lived. The territory of these "neighborhoods annexed to New Paltz" is thus described : "Guilford and several other patents, from the south bounds of New Paltz to the north bounds of Shawangunk precinct and from the foot of the high mountains eastward to the east line of the patent granted to Thomas Garland and by the south and east by the land granted to Hugh Freer and others and to the eastward by an east line from the said Hugh Freer's bounds to the bounds
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Regimental Trainings The greatest days of the year at New Paltz in the first half of the last century were the training days. The regimental district included the old town of New Paltz — that is.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Paltz.
1986Monticello sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of New Paltz.
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 New Paltz’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in New Paltz itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
The New Paltz post office opened in 1809, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
New Paltz is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #245 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.
22% of New Paltz’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.4 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1974.
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), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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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