Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1820.
The Sparta post office opened in 1813, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, South Sparta (1824), North Sparta (1832) and Scottsburg (1832), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Sparta is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Sparta’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.
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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Sparta’s history is told.
Sparta had its own post office from 1813 to 1867. Three 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).
Peaked at 5,841 in 1840; 1,624 people lived here in 2010.
20 censuses, 1820–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Sparta’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Sparta.
The area was first settled circa 1794. Sparta was established in 1789 before the establishment of Livingston County. Eventually, Sparta was diminished by the removal of land for other towns, including Springwater (1816), West Sparta (1846), and Groveland (1856). Sparta also received territory from other towns: Dansville (in Steuben County) (1822) and Groveland (1856).
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Sparta, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The town of Sparta originally extended from Livonia south to the Allegany county line, and west from Naples, Ontario county, to the Genesee river, embracing what are now the towns of Sparta, West Sparta, Groveland, North Dansville and a portion of Springwater.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In the spring of 1815 James Faulkner was elected Supervisor of the town of Sparta, which then embraced the territory now included in the towns of Dansville, West Sparta and Sparta, all of which then belonged to the county of Steuben.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The town of Sparta was formed in 1789, and originally embraced the towns of Groveland, West Sparta, and North Dansville, with also a small portion of Springwater. In 1816 a part of Springwater was taken from Sparta. Groveland was formed in 181 2. In the year 1846 the town of Sparta was by legislative enactment divided, and from it was formed what is now known as the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The town of Sparta was also divided, and the towns of North Dansville, Sparta and West Sparta formed from it. This gave the county sixteen towns. The annexation of Nunda and Portage added a rich and flourishing territory. "The two new towns were the best part of 1. Livingston Republican, May 5, 1846.
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.
Born hereAlfred Thomas Agate is born here
In the archiveSparta-Ossining-New-York-1868
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Sparta. 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 Sparta.
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 Sparta’s page.
Retake this view · +15Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Sparta post office opened in 1813, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Sparta is more historic than 62% 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.
25% of Sparta’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1979.
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), 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 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.
2008