On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Nissequogue is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Nissequogue’s overall grade.
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 Nissequogue’s 157 sits above most of its state (80% of New York towns have fewer) while its 24 historic buildings outnumber those of 80% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1926.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.1 points).
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 →
What stands out about Nissequogue’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In the early 1970s, during the administration of Mayor James Donahue, Nissequogue Village Hall opened inside the former Moriches Road Schoolhouse. Nissequogue Village Hall was dedicated to Donahue in 2017.
In 1973, Donahue and his administration established the Village of Nissequogue Fire Department and purchased the land for the village's firehouse. The village created the fire department after the Saint James Fire Department, which had served the village for decades, proposed increasing their rates for fire protection services in Nissequogue.
The Mayor of Nissequogue (as of July 2022), Richard B. Smith, is a descendant and a namesake of the first English settler of the village, Richard Smith (Smythe).
Passages that mention Nissequogue, cut from the printed page as they were published.
...History of Suffolk county, New York1882 · page 13Read the page →
Read the text
The highway from Smithtown to Brookhaven ran through the village of Nissequogue to its east end, near Shubal Merchant's, at the last house as one leaves the village going east, and, reaching the point between the two roads (one leading to St. James, the other to the residence of the late Ebenezer Smith), it followed the ridge, entered the cleared land now of ex-Mayor Wick- ' ham of New York; followed the south line of his land
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
At the time of the settlement by the whites in 1650 it was inhabited by a tribe of Indians called the Nesaquake, or, as it is now spelled, the Nissequogue tribe, who dwelt on both sides of the Nissequogue River, from its mouth to its head in the southern part of Hauppauge; as far east as Stony Brook and as far west as Fresh Pond and Comae. The tribe and the river derived their name from Nesaquake, an Indian sagamore, the father of Nas-
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.
Timeline
Nissequogue, 1902 to 1926
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nissequogue is more historic than 44% 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.
How old are the homes in Nissequogue?
11% of Nissequogue’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1977.
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), 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.
1915
2006
2006
