Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1870.
The Richfield Springs post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Richfield Springs is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age 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 Richfield Springs’ 1,775 sits above most of its state (98% of New York towns have fewer) while its 196 historic buildings outnumber those of 93% 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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Richfield Springs.
The area of Richfield Springs was called Ga-no-wan-ges by the Oneida Indians which translated to "stinking water".
The village was once served by the Southern New York Railroad, an electric trolley line that ran from Oneonta to Mohawk. It began service through Richfield Springs in the summer of 1902.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Peaked at 1,630 in 1960; 1,050 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Richfield Springs’ Wikipedia page.
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.
1884Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Passages that mention Richfield Springs, cut from the printed page as they were published.
where now stands the residence of Mr. Vedder Colo ; and it was kept by Israel Rawson. Cyrus Robinson kept the first store, which stood near the creek, and James S. Palmer taught the first school at Richfield Springs. The first school-house in the town of Richfield was made of logs, and stood near the present residence of Mr. William Hopkinson.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Badger, the towns were bonded, and on the first day of June, 1870, the road was opened to Richfield Springs by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western railroad company. The road has not been constructed farther, but has already proved a great convenience to Richfield Springs and vicinity.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereNorman Jay Colman is born here
Born hereMartha D. Lincoln is born here
In the archiveRichfield Springs Business Directory. ;Town of Richfield, Otsego Co. N.Y. (Township); Bri…
In the archiveRichfield Springs, N.Y
In the archiveRichfield Springs, N.Y
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Richfield Springs. 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 Richfield Springs.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Richfield Springs’ page.
Retake this view · +15The 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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Richfield Springs post office opened in 1842, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Richfield Springs is more historic than 98% 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.
54% of Richfield Springs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.4 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 Wikimedia Commons (4), the Library of Congress (2), 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.
1868
1868
1890