Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1816.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Port Byron’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Port Byron is more historic than 90% 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 Port Byron’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 Port Byron’s 22.2 sits near the middle of its state (57% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1797.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±11.1 points).
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Port Byron’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Settlers began arriving around 1797. Originally known as "King's Settlement", then Bucksville, finally, the name was changed to Port Byron in 1825 as it became a port on the Erie Canal. It has been suggested that the new name may have been chosen in reference to Lord Byron, the English romantic poet who had died the previous year, however there is no definitive proof of this. Later, when the canal route was changed in 1856, the village was a railroad town. The village was incorporated in 1837.
The Erie Canal Lock 52 Complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
The New York Central Railroad named a Sleeper car after the town.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Port Byron, 1879–1908
Passages that mention Port Byron, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Cayuga County, New York1879 · page 314Read the page →
Read the text
Fayette Dixon; the President (1878) of the village of Port Byron, is the proprietor of the flouring and grist-mill in that village ; and Samantha, (now Mrs. James Robinson,) and Minerva, (now Mrs. Hiram Grossman,) daughters of John Dixon, are living in the town of Sennett.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Cayuga County, New York1908 · page 424Read the page →
Read the text
Port Byron (twin sister village of Weedsport) , three miles away, is near the center of the town on the Owasco Outlet and Erie Canal, one mile south of the New York Central Railroad, and seven miles north of Auburn, with which it is connected by stage. It is situated in a valley on whose surrounding hills some of the primitive trees are yet standing. It occupies the greater part of lot 73, in the former township of Aurelius, that lot having been the purchase of two brothers, Aboliah and Elijah Buck, who settled on it in 1798.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Cayuga County, New York1908 · page 426Read the page →
Read the text
The First Presbyterian Church of the town of Mentz, located in Port Byron, was organized about the beginning of the present century as early as 1801, as a Congregational church, and was changed to the Presbyterian form of government in 181 1, when the Presbytery of Cayuga was formed, and it was not until the year 1843 "that they had become settled in a permanent home of their own when their present edifice was dedicated.
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
Port Byron, 1797 to 1904
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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.
In 1797, according to Wikidata. Port Byron’s post office opened in 1816, and the census of 1870 counted 1,089 people here.
How does Port Byron rank for history?
Port Byron is more historic than 90% 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.
How old are the homes in Port Byron?
49% of Port Byron’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1941.
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), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
1894
2021
2003
