Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the New Hope Mills Complex. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1899 on, and the census since 1840.
The Niles post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Kelloggsville (1814), Twelve Corners (1844) and New Hope (1862), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 88% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Niles is more historic than 88% 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 Niles’ 43.6 sits above most of its state (67% of New York towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% 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.
Niles had its own post office from 1835 to 1903. Five other post offices 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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Niles’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Niles. 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 Niles.
From Wikipedia’s history of Niles.
Niles was in the Central New York Military Tract, land reserved for veterans. The area that would become the town was first settled circa 1792. The town of Niles was created in 1833 by division of the town of Sempronius.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Niles, cut from the printed page as they were published.
outlet, form the west boundary. It is bounded on the north by Sennett, on the east by the town of Skaneateles in Onondaga county, and on the south by the town of Niles. The surface is rolling, and has an inclination toward the north-west. It ascends gradually from the lake, above which the highest elevations are about five hundred feet. Aside from the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first settlements were made in 1792. A family named VanGilder, who located about one and one-half miles west of Niles, are believed to have been the first settlers. Axie VanGilder, one of the family, but born after their settlement here, is still living in that locality, aged about 80.
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 hereJacob Brinkerhoff is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveCayuga County, Left Page (Map of town ofOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 834 and 2,234 people in every census since 1840.
18 censuses, 1840–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Niles’ Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Niles post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Niles is more historic than 88% 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.
One place: the New Hope Mills Complex (listed 2005).
28% of Niles’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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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