Founding year: the first Pittsfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Pittsfield’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pittsfield is more historic than 89% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Pittsfield’s overall grade.
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 Pittsfield’s 40.6 sits above most of its state (66% of New York towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Pittsfield’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The Town of Pittsfield was formed from part of the Town of Burlington in 1797. Its territory was reduced twice, in 1806 to form the Town of New Lisbon, and in 1859 to form part of the Town of Morris. The Noble family from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, named it for their old home, which they settled in the Pittsfield Centre vicinity.
The hamlet of Pittsfield, or "Pittsfield Centre," had an unmanned whistle stop station and siding on the Ontario & Western RR branch to Edmeston from New Berlin, which the Unadilla Valley RR later purchased. During World War I, Richard Freeman and Charles Walton shipped lumber by the carload from here, milled over in Ketchum.
The Pittsfield post office opened in 1804, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Pittsfield rank for history?
Pittsfield is more historic than 89% 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 Pittsfield?
One place: the Beardslee Farm (listed 2000).
How old are the homes in Pittsfield?
30% of Pittsfield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.3 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
