Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns · #256 of 758 in New York. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 37 buildings. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1820.
Richland dates its founding to 1801 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1820.
More historic than 91% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Richland is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #256 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 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 Richland’s 64.7 sits above most of its state (71% of New York towns have fewer) while its 37 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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.
Richland had its own post office from 1817 to 1853. Five 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 Richland’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Richland. 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 Richland.
From Wikipedia’s history of Richland.
The town was first settled circa 1801. The town of Richland was formed from part of the town of Williamstown, New York in 1807.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Richland, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The articles of the Oswego and Rome railroad company had been filed in April, 1863. It was built from Richland station, in the town of Richland, through the village of Pulaski and the towns of Mexico, New Haven, and Soriba, to Oswego city, being completed to the latter place in the autumn of 1865. Immediately after the organization of the company, even before the building of the road, it was leased in perpetuity to the Rome, Watertown and Ogdens-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The territory cuibraceJ within the present boundaries of this town originally comprised a portion of the old town of Williamstown, then Oneida county, which was formed March 24, 1804. Richland was set off February 20, 1807, and Albion erected from Richland, March 24, 1825. The surface is gently undulating, and the highest point in town is three hundred and ninety-two feet above Lake Ontario. It is watered by the Salmon river, which enters
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The name of Cline is an old and prominent one in Richland county, for representativcis of the family came here at a very early period in its history and have been identified with its agricultural interests from that time to the present. The family was established here by Michael Cline, who came from Beaver county, Pennsylvania, and spent his remaining days in Richland county. His son Jacob Cline entered eighty acres of land from the government, going to Wooster to secure his deed and not having sufficient funds to make full payment left his saddle and bridle to be redeemed upon payment
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mr. Gribling is today the only representative of either his father's or mother's families in Richland county. His present home has been in possession of the family for almost a half century and no man in Richland county is more Digitized by Google
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.
BuiltSelkirk Lighthouse is built
In the archiveMap of Richland, Oswego Co. N.Y. - from actual surveys
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Richland’s 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.
Between 488 and 5,917 people in every census since 1820.
20 censuses, 1820–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Richland’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Richland itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1801, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Richland’s post office opened in 1817, and the census of 1820 counted 488 people here.
Richland is more historic than 91% of U.S. towns, #256 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.
Two places: the Selkirk Lighthouse (listed 1979) and the Pulaski Village Historic District (1983).
27% of Richland’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 (3), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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 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.
1861
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1867
