Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns · #549 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1913 on, and the census since 1830.
Saranac dates its founding to 1802 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1830.
More historic than 67% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Saranac is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #549 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 Saranac’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: Wikidata (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.
Saranac’s post office has been open since 1831. Three 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 Saranac’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Descriptions - New York - Clinton County - ED 10-49, ED …
In the archiveDannemora and State Prison (Village); Saranac Hollow (Village); Saranac Subscriber's Busi…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveDannemora New York USGS topo map 1911From Wikipedia’s history of Saranac.
The first settlement took place circa 1802. The town of Saranac was established from the western part of the town of Plattsburgh in 1824.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
3 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Saranac. 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 Saranac.
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 Saranac’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 316 and 4,552 people in every census since 1830.
19 censuses, 1830–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Saranac’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Saranac itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1802, according to Wikidata. Saranac’s post office opened in 1831, and the census of 1830 counted 316 people here.
Saranac is more historic than 67% of U.S. towns, #549 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.
32% of Saranac’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1976.
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), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
