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History · Paul Smiths

Paul Smiths’ post office opened in 1881, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1865 on.

1881first post office
1on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Paul Smiths’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Paul Smiths began

When was Paul Smiths founded?

1881

The Paul Smiths post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 411145 years
Founding year: the first Paul Smiths post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
The story

How Paul Smiths came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Paul Smiths.

Read it all →

The hamlet was named after the Paul Smith's Hotel (formally known as the Saint Regis House), founded in 1859 by Apollos "Paul" Smith as one of the first wilderness resorts in the Adirondacks. Paul Smith's College was built on the site of the hotel after the hotel burned down in 1930. It was funded by the estate of Smith's son Phelps, who died in 1937. It is the locale of Osgood Pond, home of historic Northbrook Lodge, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014, and of White Pine Camp, the Summer Whitehouse of President Calvin Coolidge.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Paul Smiths, 1865 to 1982

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1865In the archivePaul Smith's "Homeward Bound."Alternate Title: Paul Smith's, near Bloomingdale. Essex Cou…
  3. 1870In the archivePaul Smith's, St. Regis Lake.Alternate Title: Adirondac views
  4. 20th century
  5. 1982Born hereTim Burke is born here
By decade

Paul Smiths, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s–1870s6 items
Paul Smith's "Homeward Bound."Alternate Title: Paul Smith's, near Bloomingdale. Essex County, N.Y., on Lake Saranacc. 1865Paul Smith's "Homeward Bound."Alternate Title: Paul S…Paul Smith's "Homeward Bound."Alternate Title: Paul Smith's, near Bloomingdale. Essex County, N.Y., on Lake Saranacc. 1865Paul Smith's "Homeward Bound."Alternate Title: Paul S…Paul Smith's, St. Regis Lake.Alternate Title: Adirondac viewsc. 1870Paul Smith's, St. Regis Lake.Alternate Title: Adirond…Paul Smith's, St. Regis Lake.Alternate Title: Adirondac viewsc. 1870Paul Smith's, St. Regis Lake.Alternate Title: Adirond…Paul Smith's.Alternate Title: Gems of the Adirondacksc. 1870Paul Smith's.Alternate Title: Gems of the AdirondacksPaul Smith's.Alternate Title: Gems of the Adirondacksc. 1870Paul Smith's.Alternate Title: Gems of the Adirondacks
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Paul Smith's "Homeward Bound."Alternate Title: Paul Smith's, near Bloomingdale. Essex County, N.Y., on Lake Saranac
Retake this viewPaul Smith's "Homeward Bound."Alternate Title: Paul Smith's, near Bloomingdale. Essex County, N.Y., on Lake Saranac, c. 1865

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Paul Smiths’ page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Paul Smiths

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Finish Paul Smiths’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPaul Smith's "Homeward Bound."Alternate…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Paul Smiths’ history

What year was Paul Smiths founded?

The Paul Smiths post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia and Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.