Port Jervis dates to 1690, and 58% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 93% of U.S. towns · #192 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Fort Decker, the Erie Railroad Station and the US Post Office-Port Jervis. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1870.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1816.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Port Jervis’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Port Jervis is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns, #192 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Port Jervis’ 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 Jervis’ 3.5 sits below most of its state (30% of New York towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1690.
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 (±6.1 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 Jervis’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
The first fully developed European settlement in the area was established by Dutch and English colonists c.1690, and a land grant of 1,200 acres (490 ha) was formalized on October 14, 1697. The settlement was originally known as Mahackamack, after a Lenape word. It was raided and burned in 1779 during the American Revolutionary War, by British and Mohawk forces under the command of Mohawk leader Joseph Brant before the Battle of Minisink. Over the next two decades, residents rebuilt the settlement. They developed more roadways to better connect Mahackamack with the eastern parts of Orange County.
Passages that mention Port Jervis, cut from the printed page as they were published.
An outline history of Orange County1846 · page 398Read the page →
Read the text
Mahackemeck Church was the name of one of them, in the present town of Deerpark, formerly in the town of Minisink, in the county of Orange. TJie place where the church stood is about a half mile South of Port Jervis, and about the same distance Northeast from the point of the junction of the Neversink and Delaware Rivers, on the road from Port Jervis to the Neversink bridge. On the same spot where the church stood — burnt in the Revolutionary war —
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mr. Farnum was identified with all the prominent business interests of Port Jervis. He was one of the directors in the Bank of Port Jervis, established in 1853, and its president from 1867 until his decease.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Orange County, New York1881 · page 710Read the page →
Read the text
and the Delaware." '' He added, however, another paragraph, in which | he said, — i "The small flourishing village of Port Jervis through which this , canal passes had its origin at the commencement of the navigation i thereat, and owes its population to that work. There are now five stores and groceries in this village; three taverns, in spacious buildings; one ' three-story grist-mill, built by Dr. Ball, of Brooklyn, being astone build- !
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Orange County, New York1908 · page 216Read the page →
Read the text
when the "gorge" gave way, carrying with it the iron railroad bridge across the Delaware above Sparrowbush, which in descending the stream on top of the moving ice, struck and swept away the E>arrett suspension bridge at Port Jervis. For a short time just before the break-up of the "gorge" the lower part of the village as far as the Erie tracks was flooded with water.
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.
By decade
Port Jervis, decade by decade
4 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Port Jervis’s post office has been open since 1830. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Carpenter's Point
1816–1830
Port Jervis
1830–today
Tri-States
1885–1903
18101920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
GermantownTristates
Gone or out of use
Church Street Public SchoolschoolDoctors Sunnyside HospitalhospitalEast Main Street Public SchoolschoolFort DeckermilitaryRiverside SchoolschoolSaint Marys ConventchurchWest End Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Port Jervis
Agudath AchimLaurel GroveSaint Marys
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Finish Port Jervis’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
In 1690, according to Wikidata. Port Jervis’ post office opened in 1816, and the census of 1870 counted 6,377 people here.
How does Port Jervis rank for history?
Port Jervis is more historic than 93% of U.S. towns, #192 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.
What is on the National Register in Port Jervis?
Three places: the Fort Decker (listed 1974), the Erie Railroad Station (1980) and the US Post Office-Port Jervis (1989).
How old are the homes in Port Jervis?
58% of Port Jervis’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (5), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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, 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.
c. 1860
c. 1875
