Founding year: the first Norwood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Norwood’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Norwood is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Norwood’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 Norwood’s 7.3 sits near the middle of its state (41% of New York towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.1 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Norwood’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The community was known early in its history as "Raquetteville." Norwood as it is known today, grew out of the shadows of Potsdam, New York in the 1870s. In 1871 this growing Potsdam hamlet became the village of Potsdam Junction. Villagers later wanted to further distinguish their municipality from the town through renaming; the first proposal was to call is Baldwin, but that was rejected due to a post office of that name. On April 15, 1875, Norwood was selected. The mayor of Norwood is currently Mark Tebo.
The Benjamin Gordon Baldwin House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
The Norwood post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Norwood rank for history?
Norwood is more historic than 68% 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 Norwood?
60% of Norwood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (3), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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