Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1880.
The Savona post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Savona’s history is told.
Peaked at 974 in 1990; 672 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Savona’s Wikipedia page.
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.
1893Sheet 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 Savona.
The name "Mud Creek" was associated with the village in the 19th century. The village was incorporated in 1883.
Unwanted attention was brought to the village in 1993 by the slaying of four-year-old Derrick Robie by thirteen-year-old Eric Smith. He was the youngest defendant in state history to be tried as an adult.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Savona, cut from the printed page as they were published.
At the village of Savona, in the town of Bath, a newspaper called the Review, was established in 1888. It is issued weekly; has eight pages, and a fair circulation in the adjacent territory, and T.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first settler in the village of Bradford was Frederick Bartles, who came with his family from New Jersey about 1793. He brought with him a number of horse-teams and wagons, and cut bis way up the creek from Savona to the present site of the village. Four of bis sons were Jacob, William, Frederick, and Charles. He brought a slave with him, Jim ; he now lies buried at the foot of his master's grave.*
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
These streams were all much larger before the destruction of the forests ; in time of high water the early residents describe them as being full from hill to hill. Mud creek flows into the Cohocton river at Savona in the town of Bath, and is the outlet of Mud lake in Schuyler county. At the time of the first settlement of this county this stream was navigable. Arks were floated from Mud lake, laden with grain, cattle and lumber from the adjacent territory, down this creek, the Cohocton and the Susque-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Mud Creek rises from Mud Lake, and runs southsasterly through Bradford and the eastern part of Bath to Ihe Conhocton at Savona. At the outlet of Mud Lake, Frederick Bartles located himself in 1793, and built a Souringand saw-mill, making the place quite noted, and nrospectively quite a large town. (See History of Bradford.)
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Savona. 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 Savona.
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 Savona’s page.
Retake this view · +15The Savona post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
