Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 5 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1904 on, and the census since 1820.
Smithville dates its founding to 1808 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1820.
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, Smithville is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Smithville’s 39.3 sits above most of its state (65% of New York towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Smithville’s history is told.
Another post office, Tyner, 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).
Peaked at 1,829 in 1830; 1,330 people lived here in 2010.
20 censuses, 1820–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Smithville’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Smithville.
The land was first settled around 1797. The town of Smithville was founded from part of the town of Greene in 1808.
The Smithville Valley Grange No. 1397 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltLoomis Family Farm is built
In the archiveEllisburgh P.O. ( Ellisvillage) (Village); Ellisburgh Business Directory. Rodman Business…
In the archiveE. Gould, Proprietor of Chenango Valley Mills Greene N.Y; Res. of Lewis L. Pease, Smithvi…
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Smithville. 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 Smithville.
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 Smithville’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.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1808, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Smithville’s post office opened in 1823, and the census of 1820 counted 1,553 people here.
Smithville is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns. 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 Smithville Valley Grange No. 1397 (listed 1998) and the Loomis Family Farm (2014).
24% of Smithville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.3 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (2), 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
