Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns. What drives it
5 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1885 on, and the census since 1870.
The Scottsville post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Scottsville is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age lowest.
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 Scottsville’s 165 sits above most of its state (81% of New York towns have fewer) while its 45 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Scottsville’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Scottsville. 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 Scottsville.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveOriginal Scottsville train station
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveNew Scottsville train station 1911
Born hereDon Davey is born hereFrom Wikipedia’s history of Scottsville.
Before Euro-American settlement, the area that became Scottsville lay within the territory and hunting grounds of the Seneca people, one of the nations of the Haudenosaunee. This Indigenous presence shaped the region for centuries before permanent non-Indigenous settlement began in the late eighteenth century.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Scottsville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The venerable Powell Carpenter, now in his 80th year, became a resident in the immediate neighborhood of Scottsville in 1804. In 1818, by pm'chase from Isaac Scott, he became the proprietor of most of the site of the present village of Scottsville. In 1825 or '6, Abraham Handford and Judge Carpenter created a water power by conducting the waters of Allan's creek in a race, 1^ mile, and thus obtaining a fall of 19 feet. This was the commencement of any considerable movements towards the founding of the pleasant and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
They found Ebenezer Allan, the owner of the fine tract of flats and upland at the mouth of Allan's creek, adjoining the present village of Scottsville. He had a comfortable log house, upon a gentle swell of land, which may be observed a short distance from the confluence of the creek and river. He was living then with a young white wife, whose name had been Lucy Chapman. Her family on their way to Canada, had stopped with him, and by the solicitations of Mrs. Dugan, (Allan's sister,) Lucy remained to keep
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.
2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 sheet.
1885Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Scottsville’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 119 and 2,128 people in every census since 1870.
13 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Scottsville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
The Scottsville post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Scottsville is more historic than 94% 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.
32% of Scottsville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.7 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1958.
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 (6), 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.
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