Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns · #541 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Most of New Windsor was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1790.
New Windsor dates its founding to 1763 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.
More historic than 68% 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 Windsor is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #541 of 758 in New York. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Windsor’s 4.3 sits below most of its state (33% of New York towns have fewer) while its 12 historic buildings outnumber those of 77% 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.
New Windsor’s post office has been open since 1811. Another post office, Little Britain, 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 country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Windsor. 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 Windsor.
From Wikipedia’s history of New Windsor.
The region was originally inhabited by the Munsee people, part of the Lenape confederation. The first European settlers were colonists from Scotland who arrived in 1685. New Windsor was founded by the General Assembly of New York on April 5, 1763.
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 hereJohn Alsop is born here
In the archiveView upon the road from New-Windsor, towards, Morris Town, Jersey
Born hereEmily L. Morton is born here
In the archiveVerplanck Mansion, Plum Point, New York 1968 14BuiltDenniston-Steidle House is built
In the archiveElfwood
In the archiveFrederick W. Senff House
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey4 decades in the archive, from the 1780s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Windsor’s page.
Retake this view · +15Grew from 1,819 people in 1790 to 27,805 in 2020, more than tenfold.
24 censuses, 1790–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New Windsor’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, 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.
In 1763, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. New Windsor’s post office opened in 1803, and the first U.S. census counted 1,819 people here in 1790.
New Windsor is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #541 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.
8 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Knox Headquarters (a National Historic Landmark since 1972), and 1 site. 12 historic buildings in all.
5% of New Windsor’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1979.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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.
1875