On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Painted Post is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns. All 2 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 Painted Post’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 Painted Post’s 16.4 sits near the middle of its state (53% of New York towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.9 points).
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 →
What stands out about Painted Post’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.
The Senecas never had a painted post but rather the post that existed in the Painted Post area was not "painted". The plain post had been used as a type of bulletin board and when the white settlers moved into the area they painted it. To paint this post was desecration to the Seneca people. The Seneca language word for the area was TKäen DōD, meaning "land of the post".
Passages that mention Painted Post, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people1911 · page 105Read the page →
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The old town of Painted Post was a town of Ontario county in 1793 and extended from Chemung county to the west line of the now town of Eathbone, including all the settlements at the head of the Chemung, at Painted Post, Tioga valley and in the lower valleys of the Conhocton and Canisteo rivers. Eli Mead, the first settler at the confluence of Mead's creek with the Conhocton river, was the first supervisor.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people1911 · page 116Read the page →
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mung and Cohocton trail to Mud creek, now Savona; thence up that trail to the foot of Crooked lake, now Penn Yan; and thence to Canandaigua. Stopping at the mouth of the Cohocton river (now the village of Painted Post) to rest and feed his cattle he improved the stop by engaging an Indian guide familiar with the country to show him the way up the mountain north of Painted Post. This afforded him a view of the valleys of the Chemung, Cohocton, Tioga and Canisteo rivers, and he was so
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of the settlement of Steuben County, New York1853 · page 14Read the page →
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Steuben county, are probably without foundation. The oldest settlers consulted in the preparation of this sketch (Capt. Woolcott and Judge Knox of the town of Corning,) did not hear of the rumored skirmish at the brook called "Bloody Run" in the old town of Painted Post. At the time of the settlement, however, there were painted trees near that stream where the Indians were said (or guessed) to have tortured prisoners. Sullivan moved from Newtown, (Klmira) to the head of the Seneca by the Horseheads (where he killed a large number of pack-horses,) thence between the lakes to the
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History of the settlement of Steuben County, New York1853 · page 30Read the page →
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In the year 1796, he boated his goods up the river to Painted Post, and kept for seven years the old tavern at Knoxville. At the end of that time, he moved up on the farm now occupied by one of his sons, two miles above the village of Painted Post, on the Tioga. It was quite a productive farm, yielding a crop of twentytwo wolves, nine panthers, bears a few, besides deer, shad and salmon uncounted.
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
Painted Post, 1817 to 1968
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.
Painted Post is more historic than 90% 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 Painted Post?
43% of Painted Post’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.9 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1946.
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 (12), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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