Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Hiram Congdon House. Below: old-book passages.
The Putnam post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Wright (1896) and Glenburnie (1908), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Putnam’s history is told.
Putnam had its own post office from 1821 to 1910. 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).
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
From Wikipedia’s history of Putnam.
The town was part of the Provincial Patent (1764) made to officer veterans of the French and Indian War while the region was in Charlotte County. The town of Putnam was formed in 1806 from the town of Westfield (now Fort Ann).
The Hiram Congdon House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Putnam, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Putnam County " . . . Beginning at what is known as the Sunk bridge, on the Putnam county road, adjoining the northern boundary line of Putnam Valley, and thence running northerly, on a line parallel with the now westerly boundary of the town of Kent, to the Dutchess county line; thence easterly with the said Dutchess county line to the present northwest corner of the bound-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
"I. All that part of the town of Carmel, in the County of Putnam, lying westerly of the Peekskill Hollow Creek in said town, is hereby annexed to and shall hereafter form a part of the town of Putnam Valley in said County, and said creek from the north line of the town of Carmel to the point where said creek crosses the present line between the said towns of Carmel and Putnam Valley shall hereafter form so much of the line between said towns."
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
THIS town was taken from Frederickstown, March 17, 1795, and includes the southern half of Lots 5 and 6 of the Philipse Patent. A small portion of the northwest corner was annexed to Putnam Valley in 1861. It is bounded on the north by the town of Kent; east by the town of Southeast; south by Westchester county, and west by the town of Putnam Valley.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The Putnam and Dutchess Turnpike Company was incorporated by an act of the Legislature passed April 11 th,*1827, by which act Edward Smith, Alvin Chase, Herman R., Stephen and Elizer Baldwin, and such persons as should associate with .them, were incorporated to build " a good and sufficient turnpike road, to commence at a point on the Croton Turnpike in the town of Somers in Westchester Co., between the house of Isaac Brown and the bridge over the east branch of Croton
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.
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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Putnam post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Hiram Congdon House (listed 1997).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
2022
2018
2017
2016
2016
2003