Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns · #556 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Chase Cobblestone Farmhouse and the Curtis-Crumb Farm. Below: maps from 1899 on and the census since 1820.
Parma dates its founding to 1808 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1820.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Parma is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #556 of 758 in New York. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Parma’s 4.3 sits below most of its state (33% of New York towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
Parma had its own post office from 1812 to 1905. 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 Parma’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Parma. 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 Parma.
From Wikipedia’s history of Parma.
The town of Parma was established on April 8, 1808, in what was then Genesee County, from the town of Northampton. The new town was named after the city of Parma in Italy.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Parma, cut from the printed page as they were published.
When our family came in, there was but one road leading from the Ridge Road to the Lake ; it was called the " Canawaugus Road ;" another road led from Braddock's Bay to "Deep Hollow Bridge." What was called the Canawaugus road is nosv the main road from Parma Corners to Parma Centre and Unionville. The inhabitants at that period north cf Ridge, in Parma, other than those in the immediate Braddock's Bay settlement, were: — Alpheus Madden, near Parma Centre; died here, his family removed; Timothy Madden, a httle west of Castle's Corners; died 15 or 20
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The grandfather, William Goodell, came to the Town of Parma when it was largely an undeveloped wilderness and at the land office filed his claim to one hundred and eight acres of virgin soil. This tract was covered with its native growth of timber in the midst of the forest he cleared and developed his farm, cutting away the trees, grubbing out the stumps and preparing the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Oreb T. Hnbbell, who is engaged in the implement business in Spencerport, was born in the town of Parma, this county, March 9, 1844, and is a representative of old New England families, being a son of William and Caroline (Tliorp) Hubbell, who were natives of Berkshire county, Massachusetts, in which locality they were reared and married. Thoy arrived in the town of Parma about
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 hereGeorge Baldwin Smith is born here
Born hereJohn Harris Baker is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyThe country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 1,342 people in 1820 to 16,217 in 2020, more than tenfold.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Parma’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.
In 1808, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Parma’s post office opened in 1812, and the census of 1820 counted 1,342 people here.
Parma is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #556 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.
Two places: the Chase Cobblestone Farmhouse (listed 1995) and the Curtis-Crumb Farm (1997).
11% of Parma’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (5), the National Register of Historic Places (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.
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