Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns · #340 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Millville Cemetery and the T.O. Castle and Son General Store. Its Register listings are the Millville Cemetery and the T.O. Castle and Son General Store. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1897 on, and the census since 1820.
The Shelby post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Millville (1824), Shelby Basin (1827) and East Shelby (1851), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Shelby is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #340 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 Shelby’s 4.1 sits below most of its state (32% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% 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.
Shelby had its own post office from 1821 to 1907. Four 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 Shelby’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Shelby. 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 Shelby.
From Wikipedia’s history of Shelby.
The Town of Shelby was established in 1818 by a partition of the Town of Ridgeway.
Since 2002, Shelby and Ridgeway have been exploring merging functions for cost-saving and currently have one town court to serve both towns.
The John Shelp Cobblestone House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Shelby, cut from the printed page as they were published.
the township of Hendricks, and the Town 11, the township of- Noble. At a special term held in May of the same year, the name of Union was changed to Harrison, and that of Marion to Shelby. Addison Township was organized February 11, 1823; Sugar Creek, May 13, 1S23; Liberty, March 5, 1827, and Monroe, May, 1 831; Fleming, Hanover and Moral were other townships that were organized prior to 1840.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Orleans county was set off from Genesee, Nov. 11, 1824. The town of Shelby was annexed to Orleans from Genesee county, April 5, 1825. The county of Genesee included, in its original limits, all of the State of New York, which Robert Morris purchased.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
United States, in the Department of Mihtary Telegraph and continued that until 1864, when he was employed by the Indianapohs and Cincinnati Railway, now " Big Four, " being stationed at London, Fairland and Shelby ville. In 1874, he was elected Circuit Clerk of Shelby County, and served one term. In 1880 and 1881,, he practiced law in Shelbyville, in partnership with Hon. J. V.
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.
In the archiveThe old general ready for a "movement."
BuiltMillville Cemetery is built
In the archiveKnowlesville (Village); Shelby Center (Village); Oak Orchard (Village); Ridgeway (Village…
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Shelby’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 1,158 and 5,509 people in every census since 1820.
20 censuses, 1820–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Shelby’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Shelby post office opened in 1821, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Shelby is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #340 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.
Two places: the Millville Cemetery (listed 2007) and the T.O. Castle and Son General Store (2023).
48% of Shelby’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1943.
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 (10), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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 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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