Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns · #663 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Below: maps from 1897 on and the census since 1830.
The Pendleton post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Mapleton (1850), Pendleton Centre (1851) and Beach Ridge (1857), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 52% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pendleton is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #663 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 Pendleton’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: the first post office (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.
Pendleton had its own post office from 1824 to 1903. Five 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 Pendleton’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1850 and 1920, then grew 5-fold.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pendleton’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pendleton.
The town of Pendleton was set apart in 1827 from part of the town of Niagara. Sylvester Pendleton Clark, one of the first settlers, gave his name to several locations in the town and eventually to the town itself. Clark served in the American Revolution and became an innkeeper and postmaster.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Pendleton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Did the canal do anything for this man of the Town of Pendleton. Put yourself in the settler's place. The forests rapidly disappeared and the Town and Village of Pendleton thrived and grew apace.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
until February 14, 1816, when it became the Town of Niagara. The area of the territory within the boundaries of the town were sufficient to allow of the creation of the Town of Pendleton in 1827, and in 1836 another division was made and Wheatfield was formed. Thus when the City of Niagara Falls was formed the Town of Niagara had its territory carved for the third time, and the territory within the boundaries of the city no longer constituted a part of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
visor and town clerk were directed to procure a map of the town, and also to prepare and circulate a petition for the division of the town and forward the same to be presented to the Legislature. Pendleton was taken from Niagara in this year. " It was agreed that after paying all of the debts due by the said towns while the same were united in the town of Niagara, twothirds of all the accounts should belong to Niagara and one-third to Pen-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Pendleton Center is a post-office on Bear Ridge. At Pendleton village a post-office was established as early as 1823. Pendleton Clark was the first postmaster.
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 hereRichard Crowley is born here
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pendleton. 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 Pendleton.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Pendleton post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Pendleton is more historic than 52% of U.S. towns, #663 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.
15% of Pendleton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 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.
