Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 89% of U.S. towns. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 3 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1887 on, and the census since 1820.
Smyrna dates its founding to 1808 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1820.
More historic than 89% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Smyrna is more historic than 89% 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 Smyrna’s 50.3 sits above most of its state (69% of New York towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% 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 Smyrna’s history is told.
Peaked at 2,246 in 1840; 1,280 people lived here in 2010.
20 censuses, 1820–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Smyrna’s Wikipedia page.
Smyrna’s post office has been open since 1809. Two 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Smyrna.
The land was settled around 1792. The town of Smyrna was founded in 1808 as "Stafford" from part of the town of Sherburne. Within a month, the name was changed to "Smyrna".
The Smyrna Elementary School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. The Smyrna Town Hall-Opera House was listed in 2008.
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.
Born hereWilliam H. Kelsey is born here
Born hereDe Volson Wood is born here
Born hereArthur A. Taylor is born here
Born hereWilliam Russell Willcox is born here
In the archiveSmyrna (Township); Smyrna Business Notices
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Smyrna. 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 Smyrna.
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.
1887Sheet 1 of 1Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Smyrna’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.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1808, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Smyrna’s post office opened in 1809, and the census of 1820 counted 1,390 people here.
Smyrna is more historic than 89% 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.
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Smyrna Elementary School (listed 1996, the first), and 1 historic district, the Hazard Jr. Willcox Farm, with 3 contributing buildings. 7 historic buildings in all.
27% of Smyrna’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.1 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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 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.
Date?
2021
2021