Most of Redfield was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1874 on and old-book passages.
The Redfield post office opened in 1807, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Greenboro (1843), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 476219 years
Founding year: the first Redfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
What stands out about Redfield’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Redfield yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Redfield is a town in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 550 at the 2010 census. The Town of Redfield was incorporated from part of the Town of Mexico in 1800. The town is in the northeastern corner of the county. As the town is located in the lake effect snowbelt, it is known for its frequent and heavy snowfalls, even more so than other towns in upstate New York. In February 2007, the town unofficially set a record when 141 inches (360 cm) of snow fell in 10 days.
Its first post office opened in 1807. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 550 to 476 (-13%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Redfield in 1860
Passages that mention Redfield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Genealogical history of the Redfield family in the United States1860 · page 32Read the page →
Read the text
* Dr Frederick Redfield was interested with Ezra L'Hommedieu in some land operations in central New York, and it is believed that the town of Redfield, in Oswego Co., N. Y., was named from him. (See 81).
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Genealogical history of the Redfield family in the United States1860 · page 278Read the page →
Read the text
Since this work has been in press, the kindness of L. M. Pease, Esq. of Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, has put us in possession of a copy of a land grant to James Redfield, found among the records of that island* The document shows that James Redfield was not only an inhabitant of Tisbury in 1671, as mentioned in the text, but that he was also a house-holder from 1671 to at least as late as 1673, which facts strengthen the probability of his identity with the James Redfield of New Haven, in 1670, and of Saybrook in 1676.
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
Redfield, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 (1), 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.
