The Rodman post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, East Rodman (1840), Tremaines Corner (1879) and Dillin (1892), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 1,197205 years
How historic is Rodman?
B+
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Rodman post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Rodman’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rodman is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Rodman’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 Rodman’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (10% of New York towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±15.8 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 Rodman’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Rodman’s post office has been open since 1821. Four other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Rodman
1821–today
East Rodman
1840–1929
Tremaines Corner
1879–1895
Dillin
1892–1903
Tremaines
1895–1905
18201920today
Hamlets and corners on the map
DillenEast RodmanZoar
Gone or out of use
Kings QuarrymineSchool Number 1schoolSchool Number 10schoolSchool Number 11schoolSchool Number 3schoolSchool Number 4schoolSchool Number 6schoolSchool Number 7schoolSchool Number 8school
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Rodman
FairviewIshamZoar
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Rodman, 1818 to 1929
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Prehistoric remains in the town document the lives of the original natives.
The region was part of Macomb's Purchase. The town was first settled around 1801.
Rodman was organized as a town in 1804 from part of the town of Adams. The town was originally called "Harrison" after an early landowner, but was later changed to "Rodman", the name of the clerk of the legislature, due to confusion with other similarly named communities. Part of Rodman was used in 1808 to form the Town of Pinckney (Now part of Lewis County).
Passages that mention Rodman, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A history of Jefferson County in the state of New York1854 · page 146Read the page →
Read the text
innumerable multitude of salmon, the clearness of the water being such that they may be seen in any part of it." In the early settlement of the country these fish ascended as far up as the town of Rodman, but since the erection of dams and mills, they have scarcely appeared in Sandy Creek. In the spring of 1797, Marvel and Lyman Ellis, brothers, and both interested in the purchase, found their way into town, the * Marvel Ellis died in Utica, in 1806, aged 46; be removed there in 1803.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Jefferson County, New York1878 · page 493Read the page →
Read the text
The father of our subject, whose name was also Henry, settled in the town of Rodman, Jefferson County, at the close of the War of 1812. He fought as a soldier all through that war, and at its close bought 50 acres of wild land and settled on it, where he continued to live until his death, which occurred in 1818. He left a wife and three young daughters. Henry, the youngest child, was born a short time after the death of his father. The widow after-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
of HoUeston, Massachusetts, and his mother, Catharine HUl, of Connecticut. Mr. HUl came into Oneida county in 1800, remaining there until 1810, when he removed with his family into the town of Rodman, Jefferson County, where he and they enjoyed the pleasures, and endured the hardships and privations consequent upon pioneer life, remaining upon the farm, changed by his own hand from a forest to cultivated fields, for more than forty years. Mr. Hill died in 1856, aged
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
Rodman, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The Rodman post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Rodman rank for history?
Rodman is more historic than 71% 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.
How old are the homes in Rodman?
40% of Rodman’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±15.8 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1969.
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 (2), 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.
1864