Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns · #367 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Its Register listings are the US Post Office-Middleport and the William Taylor House. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1897 on, and the census since 1820.
The Royalton post office opened in 1823, the earliest record of the town by name. Six smaller post offices, Royalton Centre (1824), Reynales Basin (1843) and Orange Port (1844), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 84% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Royalton is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #367 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Royalton’s 2.7 sits below most of its state (28% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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.
Royalton had its own post office from 1823 to 1901. Six 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 Royalton’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Royalton. 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 Royalton.
From Wikipedia’s history of Royalton.
The Town of Royalton was formed in 1817 from part of the Town of Hartland. The source of the town name is not currently known.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Royalton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
*HE Town of Royalton was one of the towns taken from Hartland, in 1817. A portion of Royalton was separated to form the Town of Lockport, in 1824, yet Royalton is row the largest town in the County, and comprises 38,- 820 acres of land. While the town was once a wilderness waste, it now boasts of some of the finest farms in the State, where the most improved farm machinery is used.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1812 the Town of Cambria was divided into four towns, the portion east of the West Transit line constituting Hartland, in'. which the eastern part of the present Town of Lockport was located. This became a part of Royalton when that town was taken from Hartland in 1817. On February 2, 1824, the Town of Lockport was formed from Cambria and Royalton, with its present boundaries ; up to which time it was nearly enveloped with the primeval forest, through
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
650 History of Royalton, Vermont Mr. Adams spent his entire life in Royalton, He was a mechanic, but owned considerable real estate in town, and at one time had an interest in a store at Royalton village. He held various town offices, that of selectman for the usual term, and was town treasurer for twenty-two years. He was highly esteemed as a citizen. At the time of his death he was living near the "Mills," then owned by his son, M, S. Adams.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1867 he represented the town of Royalton in the Legislature. He was acting assistant U. S. Attorney in 1868, at the time of the Fenian raid from St. Albans into Canada, and all the indictments found by the U. S. Court at Windsor, against the men captured in the raid, are in his handwriting. He left Royalton in November, 1869, and in March, 1870, settled in St. Louis, Mo., where he still practices his profession. He was admitted to the bar of the U. S. Supreme Court in 1881, and in April, 1884, defeated Mrs. Myra Clark Gaines, the cele-
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 hereCharles G. Williams is born here
Born hereBelva Ann Lockwood is born here
In the archiveRoyalton (Township)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. 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 Royalton’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 1,849 and 7,765 people in every census since 1820.
20 censuses, 1820–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Royalton’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Royalton post office opened in 1823, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Royalton is more historic than 84% of U.S. towns, #367 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 US Post Office-Middleport (listed 1989) and the William Taylor House (2012).
44% of Royalton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1951.
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 National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
1875
2013
