Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Wilder Cemetery, the South Bristol Grange Hall 1107 and the Warren-Benham House. Below: maps from 1900 on and the census since 1840.
The South Bristol post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name. Four smaller post offices, Academy (1850), Bristol Springs (1872) and Gulick (1880), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, South Bristol is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 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 South Bristol’s 18.5 sits near the middle of its state (55% of New York towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% 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.
South Bristol had its own post office from 1827 to 1902. Four 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).
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how South Bristol’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1840 and 1950, then grew 3-fold.
19 censuses, 1840–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on South Bristol’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of South Bristol.
South Bristol was part of the Phelps and Gorham Purchase. Settlement commenced in the year the county was formed, 1789.
The Town of South Bristol was established in 1838 from a partition of the Town of Bristol.
The South Bristol Grange Hall 1107 and Wilder Cemetery are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention South Bristol, cut from the printed page as they were published.
South Bristol is the name of a small hamlet and post-office situated near the center of school district No. 8. It was at one time a busy settlement, and was the site of several milling industries and some trade.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ON the 8th day of March, 1838, township eight of range four was separated from the old town of Bristol and given a distinct organization under the name of South Bristol, and being not only one of the younger towns of Ontario county, but the smallest in point of population. The principal trading centers of this town are the hamlets known as South Bristol, situate in the central part ; Bristol Springs, located about a mile and a quarter west from the lake shore, and in the eastern central portion of the town; Woodville, a boat -landing at the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
THIS town was formed in January, 1789, and originally included all which is now Bristol and South Bristol, or townships 8 and 9 in the 4th range, as described according to the Phelps and Gorham surveys. In March, 1838, number 8, or South Bristol, was set off and separately organized. On March 23, 1848, a part of Bristol was annexed to Richmond, but on February 25, 1852, the strip was restored.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
water course of the town, having its source in South Bristol, whence it flows north into and across Bristol. Along this stream from the earliest settlement there has been both saw and grist-mills in operation, but the latter have outstripped the former in length of standing and usefulness.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of South Bristol. 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 South Bristol.
The 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.
Nobody well known was born in South Bristol itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The South Bristol post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
South Bristol is more historic than 76% 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.
Three places: the Wilder Cemetery (listed 2003), the South Bristol Grange Hall 1107 (1997) and the Warren-Benham House (2017).
15% of South Bristol’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.0 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 (8), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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 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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