Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns · #1 of 758 in New York. What drives it
8 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 2,030 buildings between them. Below: maps from 1943 on and the census since 1820.
Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Otsego is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #1 of 758 in New York. All 2 inputs put Otsego near the top nationally; its National Register listings ranks highest.
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 Otsego’s 5,611 sits above most of its state (100% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2,035 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Three 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 Otsego’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Otsego.
Gideon Hawley, a missionary, arrived in this area in 1753. William Cooper purchased land (Cooper Patent) that now is marked, in part, by Cooperstown. Major settlement began around 1788.
The Town of Otsego was organized while still in Montgomery County in 1788, and is the oldest town in the county.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereDaniel DeWitt Tompkins Davie is born here
Born hereSarah Maria Clinton Perkins is born here
Born hereJane Lippitt Patterson is born here
Born hereGeorge Van Horn is born hereBuiltUS Post Office-Cooperstown is built
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Otsego.
1943Richfield Springs sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Otsego.
Peaked at 4,917 in 1890; 3,641 people lived here in 2020.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Otsego’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Otsego is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #1 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.
8 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Otsego County Courthouse (listed 1972, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Cooperstown Historic District, the Glimmerglass Historic District and the Fly Creek Historic District, with 2,030 contributing buildings. 2,035 historic buildings in all.
60% of Otsego’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 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 the National Register of Historic Places (8), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
