Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns · #424 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Pioneer Cemetery. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1891 on, and the census since 1820.
The Sidney post office opened in 1810, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Franklin Depot (1878), East Sidney (1882) and Youngs (1891), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 80% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sidney is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #424 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 Sidney’s 1.8 sits below most of its state (24% of New York towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 Sidney’s history is told.
Sidney’s post office has been open since 1810. Three 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).
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.
1891Sheet 1 of 4Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Sidney.
The town was formed in 1801 from the town of Franklin. On April 7, 1801, the town was named "Sidney" in honor of British naval officer Sir Sidney Smith.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Sidney, cut from the printed page as they were published.
tary banishment, he had refused to have any intercourse with him. With Monmouth he was entirely unacquainted. A friend of Sidney, Lord Howard of Escrick, a man of a worthless character and corrupt principles, caused Sidney and Monmouth to meet, by pretending to Sidney that the duke was desirous to dine with him, and to Monmouth that Sidney wished to meet him but had a delicacy in courting his ac-
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 archiveSidney Centre (Village); Sidney Plains Business Directory; Sidney (Township); Sidney Plai…
In the archiveSidney, N.Y. 1887
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveSidney NY 19433 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sidney. 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 Sidney.
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 Sidney’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 1,107 and 7,110 people in every census since 1820.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sidney’s Wikipedia page.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Sidney post office opened in 1810, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Sidney is more historic than 80% of U.S. towns, #424 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.
One place: the Pioneer Cemetery (listed 2007).
37% of Sidney’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.0 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1955.
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), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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, 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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