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B+History
History · Petersburgh

23% of Petersburgh’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 69% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Its Register listing is the Petersburgh United Methodist Church. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1897 on, and the census since 1820.

1on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Petersburgh’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

About Petersburgh’s history

How historic is Petersburgh?

B+

More historic than 69% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Petersburgh’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Petersburgh is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Petersburgh’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194023.4% of homes (±5.1) · typical NY town 26.6% · U.S. 8.4%A−National Register1 listing, 7.6 per 10,000 residents · typical NY town 12.3 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 69%
NewerOlder

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 Petersburgh’s 7.6 sits near the middle of its state (42% of New York towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±5.1 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 Petersburgh’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18973 editions of the USGS map, 1897 to 1995. Watch Petersburgh change.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Petersburgh, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Petersburgh’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Petersburgh’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBaptist Church, State Route 22, Petersb…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Petersburgh on the map, 1897 to 1995

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Petersburgh. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Petersburgh on the 1897 USGS mapPetersburgh on the 1980 USGS mapPetersburgh on the 1995 USGS map1897Hoosick sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Petersburgh.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, North Petersburg, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Petersburg
1820–today
North Petersburg
1862–1904
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
North PetersburgPetersburgStillham
Gone or out of use
School Number 8school
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Petersburgh
Meadow LawnMosesPleasant Valley

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Petersburgh came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Petersburgh.

Read it all →

The area was settled around the middle of the 18th century and was part of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck. The town was created in 1791 from the Town of Stephentown. The size of this town was diminished by the formation of other towns in the county, including the Towns of Berlin and Lansingburgh in 1806, and Grafton and Nassau in 1807.

The Petersburgh United Methodist Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Petersburgh in 1925

Passages that mention Petersburgh, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The extension of the Harlem Railroad from Chatham in Columbia County northward through the little Hoosick Valley, in the eastern part of Rensselaer County, to Petersburgh Junction, was promoted by Treanor Park, of Bennington, Vermont, a well-known railroad builder. This line was connected with the …
Troy and Rensselaer county, New York1925 · page 583Read the page →
Read the text

The extension of the Harlem Railroad from Chatham in Columbia County northward through the little Hoosick Valley, in the eastern part of Rensselaer County, to Petersburgh Junction, was promoted by Treanor Park, of Bennington, Vermont, a well-known railroad builder. This line was connected with the Rutland Railroad, and is now a part of

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

Petersburgh, 1809 to 1933

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1809Born hereLydia Baxter is born here
  3. 1820Post officeThe Petersburg post office opens
  4. 1862Post officeThe North Petersburg post office opens
  5. 1897On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 20th century
  7. 1904Post officeThe North Petersburg post office closes
  8. 1933In the archiveBaptist Church, State Route 22, Petersburg, Rensselaer County, NY
By decade

Petersburgh, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s2 items
Baptist Church, State Route 22, Petersburg, Rensselaer County, NY1933Baptist Church, State Route 22, Petersburg, Rensselae…Elijah Reynolds House, State Route 22, Petersburg, Rensselaer County, NY1933Elijah Reynolds House, State Route 22, Petersburg, Re…
1940s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today4 recent
Petersburg Baptist Church2012Petersburg Baptist ChurchMoses Cemetery2012Moses CemeteryPetersburg Hills Fall 20112011Petersburg Hills Fall 2011Petersburgh Rensselaer NY2009Petersburgh Rensselaer NY
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.

Baptist Church, State Route 22, Petersburg, Rensselaer County, NY
Retake this viewBaptist Church, State Route 22, Petersburg, Rensselaer County, NY, 1933

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Petersburgh

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2004
Petersburgh United Methodist Church
Petersburgh United Methodist Church
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Queen Anne1
Petersburgh United Methodist ChurchQueen Anne

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

People over time

Petersburgh, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5001850190019502000Peak: 2,248

Between 955 and 2,248 people in every census since 1820.

21 censuses, 1820–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Petersburgh’s Wikipedia page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

BerlinIts storyA−Grafton1 historic placeB+Hoosick11 historic placesA+

Questions about Petersburgh’s history

How does Petersburgh rank for history?

Petersburgh is more historic than 69% 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.

What is on the National Register in Petersburgh?

One place: the Petersburgh United Methodist Church (listed 2004).

How old are the homes in Petersburgh?

23% of Petersburgh’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1977.

Memory lane

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

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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).

From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.