Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1826.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Silver Creek’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Silver Creek is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #495 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Silver Creek’s overall grade.
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 Silver Creek’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (10% of New York towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.2 points). Two sources give 1803.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
What stands out about Silver Creek’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
The community was first settled circa 1803, and the first school house was erected in approximately 1823. In 1822 a well-known black walnut tree, measuring about 10 feet (3.0 m) in diameter, was blown over in a storm. The village of Silver Creek was incorporated in 1848. Silver Creek was an important port on Lake Erie until railroads reduced shipping. The village is home to a skew arch railroad bridge built in 1869 over Jackson Street. On September 14, 1886, an excursion train collided head-on with a freight train on the Nickel Plate Railroad about a mile east of the village. The collision killed at least 16 people.
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.
In 1803, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Silver Creek’s post office opened in 1826, and the census of 1860 counted 661 people here.
How does Silver Creek rank for history?
Silver Creek is more historic than 74% of U.S. towns, #495 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.
How old are the homes in Silver Creek?
67% of Silver Creek’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 (11), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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