Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Yale-Cady Octagon House and Yale Lock Factory Site · Photo: Octavia Graystone · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 93% of U.S. towns. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register. Below: maps from 1887 on and the census since 1820.
The Newport post office opened in 1809, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 93% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Newport is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings 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 Newport’s 57.5 sits above most of its state (70% of New York towns have fewer) while its 10 historic buildings outnumber those of 76% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Newport’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Newport. 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 Newport.
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.
1887Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Newport.
The first settlement took place after 1786. The town was formed in 1805 from parts of the towns of Fairfield, Herkimer, Norway, and Schuyler.
Two structures in the town are listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places:
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Newport, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In 1640 the town of Newport became the seat of government for the island, and William Coddington was chosen governor, and held the office until 1647, when the government of Providencff Plantations was re-organized under the charter granted in 1648 by Charles I., the office of governor was abolished, and that of president set up in its place. John Coggeshall was chosen president, and Coddington assistant for the town of Newport. The next year he was (diosen president of the colony.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
This is the petition of " Mrs. Elizabeth Stewart, wife of Gilbert Stewart, late of Newport, in the colony of Rhode Island, snuff maker, setting forth that her husband is possessed of a tract of land in the township of Newport in Nova Scotia under improvement and upon which he hath some stock. That he, finding it impossible to maintain his family in the said town of Newport in this colony, did some time last summer remove to his said farm where he now is and purposes to remain. And
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereAmos Westcott is born here
Born hereCelora E. Martin is born here
Born hereMadeline Yale Wynne is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltMasonic Temple-Newport Lodge No. 445 F. & A.M. is builtWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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 1,481 and 2,302 people in every census since 1820.
20 censuses, 1820–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Newport’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Newport’s post office has been open since 1809.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Newport post office opened in 1809, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Newport is more historic than 93% 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.
6 listings: 5 buildings and 1 structure. 10 historic buildings in all.
40% of Newport’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1962.
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 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, 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.
