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Sharon Springs, New York 2016 424Photo: Elisa.rolle · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Sharon Springs

Sharon Springs’ post office opened in 1850, and 56% of its homes were built before 1940

2 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1898 on, and the census since 1870.

1850first post office
2on the National Register
56%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Sharon Springs’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Sharon Springs began, and where its name came from

When was Sharon Springs founded?

1850

The Sharon Springs post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 520 in 18702020 census: 483176 years

How did Sharon Springs get its name?

Sharon Springs’s name derives from the hometown of the first colonial settlers, Sharon, Connecticut, and the important springs in the village.

Founding year: the first Sharon Springs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

What stands out about Sharon Springs’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

On the map since 18983 editions of the USGS map, 1898 to 1943. Watch Sharon Springs change.Old housesHalf of Sharon Springs’ homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · On the map

Sharon Springs on the map, 1898 to 1943

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sharon Springs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Sharon Springs on the 1898 USGS mapSharon Springs on the 1900 USGS mapSharon Springs on the 1943 USGS map1898Canajoharie 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 Sharon Springs.

The story

How Sharon Springs came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Sharon Springs.

Read it all →

Prior to being settled by Great Britain as part of the country's Province of New York, Sharon Springs was frequented by the indigenous Iroquois population for its healing waters. After Britain's Royal Proclamation of 1763, the Crown formed Tryon County in 1772, which lay at the westernmost reaches of the original Thirteen Colonies. Sharon Springs, then known as the town of New Dorlach, was settled circa 1780. Tryon County stretched from the Adirondack Mountains to the Delaware River and boasted a pre-Revolutionary War farming community of 10,000 people, known as the "Breadbasket of the Colonies".

ChaptersImmigrationResurgence

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Sharon Springs, 1860 to 1905

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1860In the archiveA building's veranda
  3. 1898On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1905In the archiveSharon House
By decade

Sharon Springs, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s1 item
A building's veranda1860A building's veranda
1900s4 items
Sharon House1905Sharon HouseThe Magnesia Springs1905The Magnesia SpringsPark1905ParkSulphur Baths and Springs1905Sulphur Baths and Springs
1910s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

A building's veranda
Retake this viewA building's veranda, 1860

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Sharon Springs’ page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 listings protect 168 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
168
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Sharon Springs, census by census

010020030040050060070018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 627

Between 351 and 627 people in every census since 1870.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sharon Springs’ Wikipedia page.

Help out

Finish Sharon Springs’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewA building's veranda: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Sharon Springs’ history

What year was Sharon Springs founded?

The Sharon Springs post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 the Library of Congress (5), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.