Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns · #315 of 758 in New York. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 3 buildings. Below: maps from 1897 on and the census since 1840.
The Portville post office opened in 1841, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Mill Grove (1827) and Carroll (1892), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 87% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Portville is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #315 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Portville’s 20.3 sits near the middle of its state (56% of New York towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% 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.
Portville’s post office has been open since 1841. Two 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 Portville’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Portville. 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 Portville.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Portville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Its first post office opened in 1841. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 3,730 to 3,504 (-6%).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereWilliam E. Wheeler is born here
Born hereCharles Butts 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.
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.
1897Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Between 462 and 4,486 people in every census since 1840.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Portville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Portville post office opened in 1841, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Portville is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #315 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Portville Free Library (listed 1991, the first), and 1 historic district, the Bedford Corners Historic District, with 3 contributing buildings. 7 historic buildings in all.
28% of Portville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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 Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
