Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
William Hartman Farmstead · Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 96% of U.S. towns · #118 of 758 in New York. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 51 buildings. Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 1850.
North Dansville dates its founding to 1846 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1850.
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, North Dansville is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #118 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age 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 North Dansville’s 114 sits above most of its state (77% of New York towns have fewer) while its 60 historic buildings outnumber those of 86% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 North Dansville’s history is told.
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.
Another post office, Danville, 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of North Dansville.
The first settlers arrived circa 1795. The town was organized from the town of Sparta in 1846, and in 1849 North Dansville was increased by more territory from Sparta. The town was at one time on a branch of the Genesee Valley Canal.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention North Dansville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The one village of North Dansville is Dansville, which in 1900 had a population of 3,633 — about a third more than that of any other village of the county. It has been a prominent milling center for the manufacture of flour, paper, lumber and other articles from almost its first settlement. A branch of the Genesee Valley canal ended here in a convenient basin, and before the Erie railroad was built it was the selling and shipping point of the lumber interest of a very large region.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
edifice before referred to.* Local authorities do not entirely agree as to who was the first settler within the limits of the present town of North Dansville, and this is not surprising in view of the many territorial changes affecting it. It may not be possible at this day to definitely determine the fact ; yet, from inquiries made and a careful analysis of conflicting statements in reference
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.
BuiltDansville Library is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of North Dansville. 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 North Dansville.
Between 3,738 and 6,358 people in every census since 1850.
17 censuses, 1850–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on North Dansville’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in North Dansville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1846, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. North Dansville’s post office opened in 1807, and the census of 1850 counted 4,377 people here.
North Dansville is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #118 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.
6 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Pioneer Farm (listed 1970, the first), and 1 historic district, the Dansville Downtown Historic District, with 51 contributing buildings. 60 historic buildings in all.
50% of North Dansville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.0 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (2), the National Register of Historic Places (6), Wikipedia, 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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