Founding year: the first Riga post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Riga’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Riga is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #581 of 758 in New York. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Riga’s overall grade.
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 Riga’s 1.8 sits below most of its state (24% of New York towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Riga’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In the 18th century, the lands of present-day Riga were part of the "Mill Seat Tract" deeded by Native Americans to Phelps and Gorham. Soon thereafter, Robert Morris of Philadelphia acquired the land and sold it to the estate of Sir William Pulteney in England.
The Riga area was originally part of Ontario County, set up by the State Legislature in 1789. It later became part of Genesee County. The first organized town between the Genesee River and Lake Erie was Northampton. In 1802, Northampton was divided into Leicester, Batavia, Southampton, Northampton, and East and West Pulteney - after Sir William Pulteney. In 1808 East and West Pulteney became East and West Riga, and in 1809 the town of Riga was formed.
Passages that mention Riga, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve1851 · page 347Read the page →
Read the text
carrying most of them in on his back ; built a saw mill, and in a little ov-er a year cleared fifty acres. Getting ready for his saw mill irons, he went to Connecticut, and brought them all the way from there with an ox-team. In 1804 he struck the first blow in Riga, making an opening, and erecting a house for Mr. Wadsworth, a mile and a half southeast of Churchville.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of the pioneer settlement of Phelps and Gorham's purchase, and Morris' reserve1851 · page 559Read the page →
Read the text
of the afterwards Judge Eldridge Farwell, in Clarendon, made the first boards had in all this region, and his was the pioneer grist-mill, exceptang a small log mill the Atchinsons had erected on Salmon Creek. We had our first mining done at Church's mill in Riga. In all the region north of Ridge, in what is now Clarkson and Murray, Moody Freeman was the Pioneer. He was origmally from Hanover, JS.
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.
Timeline
Riga, 1812 to 2010
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Riga post office opened in 1812, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Riga rank for history?
Riga is more historic than 63% of U.S. towns, #581 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.
What is on the National Register in Riga?
One place: the Riga Academy (listed 1980).
How old are the homes in Riga?
15% of Riga’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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 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.
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