Ogdensburg’s post office opened in 1807, and 62% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 93% of U.S. towns · #201 of 758 in New York. What drives it
9 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 7 buildings. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1860.
Founding year: the first Ogdensburg post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ogdensburg’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ogdensburg is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns, #201 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 National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ogdensburg’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 Ogdensburg’s 16.9 sits near the middle of its state (54% of New York towns have fewer) while its 16 historic buildings outnumber those of 78% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.5 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 Ogdensburg’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
This territory has been inhabited for at least 2000 years by Indigenous peoples of varying cultures. By 1000 CE, Iroquoian-speaking people were settling along the St. Lawrence River and practicing agriculture, as well as hunting and fishing. The earliest French explorers recorded Stadacona and Hochelaga as villages of these people in the early 16th century; by the end of the century, later explorers found the villages abandoned. A distinct people, now called the St. Lawrence Iroquoians, inhabited the areas along the St. Lawrence River from before 1300 until the late 16th century. By the late 16th century, the St. Lawrence Iroquoians had disappeared from the St. Lawrence Valley, probably due to warfare by the Mohawk of the Haudenosaunee over the fur trade. By the time of later French contact, the Five Nations of the Haudenosaunee: Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, and Seneca, were allied…
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.
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.
The Ogdensburg post office opened in 1807, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Ogdensburg rank for history?
Ogdensburg is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns, #201 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.
What is on the National Register in Ogdensburg?
9 listings: 8 buildings, among them the U.S. Customshouse (listed 1974, the first), and 1 historic district, the Library Park Historic District, with 7 contributing buildings. 16 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Ogdensburg?
62% of Ogdensburg’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 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 (5), the Library of Congress (3), Wikidata (3), the National Register of Historic Places (9), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1857
1910
1968
2007
