Founding year: the first Sloan post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Sloan’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sloan is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #698 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Sloan’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 Sloan’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 D to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Sloan’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The village was incorporated in 1896 from part of Cheektowaga. With the CSX Frontier yard to the village's north and the Norfolk Southern Bison yard to the village's south, it was a historically important railroad town like nearby Depew. These yards were originally the New York Central and Erie-Lackawanna, respectively.
For much of its history the village had a police force ranging from three to six officers. The force was abolished circa 1978, and the four patrolmen and one captain were absorbed by the Cheektowaga Police Department, which to this day provides police services to the village.
The Sloan post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Sloan rank for history?
Sloan is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #698 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 Sloan?
30% of Sloan’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.3 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1949.
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, 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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