Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns · #643 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1903 on, and the census since 1820.
Pamelia dates its founding to 1804 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1820.
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pamelia is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #643 of 758 in New York. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Pamelia’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (10% of New York towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Pamelia’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1860 and 1940, then grew 3-fold.
20 censuses, 1820–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pamelia’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pamelia. 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 Pamelia.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pamelia.
The town was formed in 1819 from part of the town of Brownville. Around 1824, the name was briefly changed to "Leander", but was then changed back to "Pamelia". A small part of the town of Orleans was added to Pamelia in 1824. A small south part of Pamelia was lost when Watertown incorporated in 1869.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Pamelia, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In 1840 a substantial covered bridge at this place was burned, and a few weeks after an act was passed authorizing a loan of $2500 to the town of Champion, $750 to Le Ray, S2000 to Wilna, and $750 to Pamelia, for building bridges over Black river, among which were those at this place and Carthage. These Ibans were to be repaid by a tax, in eight equal annual installments.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
made a location three miles from Watertown, on the farm now owned by George Webb; but their families becoming discontented, they returned the same fall to Lewis County, where they afterwards settled. Pamelia Village, opposite the lower part of the village of Watertown, began to settle about 1804, upon the building of a bridge; and very soon after, a dam and mills were erected here. The place first received the name of Williamstown, which was given it by Jacob Brown, who made
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.
Born hereJane S. Richards is born here
In the archivePanama Business Directory; Brocken Straw Business Directory; Panama (Village)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Pamelia’s page.
Retake this view · +15Pamelia had its own post office from 1820 to 1836. Another post office, Pamelia Four Corners, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1804, according to Wikidata. Pamelia’s post office opened in 1820, and the census of 1820 counted 1,342 people here.
Pamelia is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #643 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.
18% of Pamelia’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.6 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1980.
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), 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 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.
2009