The Saratoga post office opened in 1804, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Quaker Springs (1824), Deans Corners (1833) and Grangerville (1834), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 3,071 in 17902020 census: 5,808222 years
How historic is Saratoga?
A
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Saratoga post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Saratoga’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Saratoga is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #328 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Saratoga’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 Saratoga’s 10.3 sits near the middle of its state (46% of New York towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.4 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 Saratoga’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Bryan ScidmoreCaldwellCemetery of the VisitationDouw WinneyFairmountFinchGerald B. H. Soloman Saratoga NationalNotre DameProspect HillQuaker ChurchSchuylervilleVictory
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
On the map
Saratoga on the map, 1900 to 1967
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Saratoga. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1900Schuylerville sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Saratoga.
Every building
Saratoga, building by building, 1884–1900
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.
The name may derive from the Iroquoian se-rach-ta-gue or sa-ra-ta-ke, which the early Dutch settlers rendered as "Sarachtoge". A second early version of the name is, "Saraghtogo" but the origin remains unproven and thus uncertain.
The location was first settled at the end of the 17th century as "Fort Saratoga". Saratoga soon became contested land between British and French colonial forces, and the village of Saratoga (now Schuylerville) was destroyed by the French in 1745 during King George's War.
Saratoga was originally a district of Albany County stretching from north of the Mohawk River to Northumberland, including lands for six miles on both sides of the Hudson River. In 1775, the three districts were Ballstown, Halfmoon, and Saratoga.
March, 1678, it was erected into the township of Saratoga. During all this time the district and town of Saratoga was a part of Albany county. It was not until the 7th of February, 1791, that the county of Saratoga was set off from Albany county. On the 9th of April, 1819, the township of Saratoga Springs was formed from the town of Old Saratoga, and on the 17th day of April, 1826, just fifty years ago, the village of Saratoga Springs
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
HE most popular of American watering places is the village of Saratoga Springs, which is situated near the center of Saratoga County, thirty-eight miles by railroad north of Albany, and thirty-two miles north of Troy.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
But it will be seen that the ground on which the village of Saratoga Springs is built, and the region in which the famous mineral springs are found, formed no part of the old hunting ground and patent of Saratoga. The So-roeto-gos land of the olden time lay along the Hudson, and extended no further west than Saratoga Lake.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
banks in this section of the state of New York. It was originally founded sixty years ago as a private bank by Messrs. King & Mason, who conducted it till 1854, when it was duly chartered by the legislature as The Bank of Saratoga Springs. Eventually in 1865 it was duly incorporated under the national banking laws, under the style and title of the First National Bank of Saratoga Springs. The capital of the bank is $135,000, which is further augmented by a surplus of $150,000. It is officered as follows :— Augustus Bockes,
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
Saratoga, 1804 to 1910
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Saratoga post office opened in 1804, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Saratoga rank for history?
Saratoga is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #328 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 Saratoga?
5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Saratoga Reformed Church, Old (listed 1997, the first). 6 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Saratoga?
31% of Saratoga’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (2), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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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