Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1820.
The Rushford post office opened in 1820, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, New Hudson (1849), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 53% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Rushford is more historic than 53% of U.S. towns. Its age 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 Rushford’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.
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.
Peaked at 1,839 in 1860; 1,085 people lived here in 2020.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rushford’s Wikipedia page.
Rushford’s post office has been open since 1820. Another post office, New Hudson, 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).
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.
1886Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Rushford.
The first settlers, Enos Gary and two of his children, arrived in 1808. The town of Rushford was formed in 1816 from part of the town of Caneadea. Part of Rushford was taken to form the newer town of New Hudson in 1825.
When Rushford Lake was formed by a dam on Caneadea Creek in 1927, the communities of East Rushford and Kelloggville were flooded by the rising water.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Rushford, cut from the printed page as they were published.
they lived six and one-half years, from which they moved to what is now known as the Squire White farm, located on Taylor Hill, in the town of Rushford, where they lived one year, moving from there to the John Lamb er son farm, three miles north of Rushford village, on the Centerville road. On this place they lived five years, during which time he purchased the old
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A notice was published in 1846 that an application would be made to the next Legislature for an act to incorporate the village of Rushford. Ercktirin Emit “ :MtM, \i Naim EdtmA Rushford, Saturday February 5, 1859.
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 hereRichard Henry Pratt is born here
Born hereFrank Wayland Higgins is born here
In the archiveRushford, old home week
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rushford. 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 Rushford.
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 Rushford’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, 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 Rushford post office opened in 1820, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Rushford is more historic than 53% 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.
16% of Rushford’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.9 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 the Library of Congress (12), 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, 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.
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