Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 95% of U.S. towns · #155 of 758 in New York. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 29 buildings between them. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1899 on, and the census since 1820.
Stanford dates its founding to 1750 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1820.
More historic than 95% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Stanford is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #155 of 758 in New York. 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 Stanford’s 97.5 sits above most of its state (76% of New York towns have fewer) while its 36 historic buildings outnumber those of 83% 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.
Five 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 Stanford’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1830 and 1930, then more than doubled.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Stanford’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Stanford.
Stanford was first settled circa 1750. The town was part of the Great Nine Partners Patent of 1697. The town of Stanford was formed in 1793 from the town of Washington.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Stanford, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Stanford Monthly Meeting was set off from Creek about 1800, with the Preparative Meetings of Stanford, in the present village of Stanfordville, established in 1795, and Little Nine Partners established 1800, in the town of Washington. Northeast Preparative Meeting, in the town of Northeast, was established by Stanford Monthly Meeting in 1810, having been a meeting for worship since 1803.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
i CHARLES W. WRIGHT, Supervisor of the town of Clinton, Dutchess county, N. Y., was bom in the town of Stanford, March 1, 1866. He acquired his education at the public schools of his native place, and at Sackett's private school. He then accepted a clerkship in the store of Mr. Knickerbocker of Bangall, with whom he remained four years, and was afterwards engaged for a time in the butter and egg businesss in New York City. In the spring of 1892 he established a general mercantile store at Clinton Comers, N. Y. Politically Mr. Wright is a Democrat, and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Bro. P. Z. Snckett, in behalf of the following members, viz: P. X. Sackett, I. I. 'bright, Chepel Bobinson and others asked for letters to form another Baptist Church in the town of Stanford, whereupon the church appointed a special meeting two weeks from that date, to consider the request, which being refused Bro. P. K. Saokett said that they would withdraw from the church. TThile these events were transpiring Bro.
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 hereGeorge Washington Gale is born here
Born hereIsaac R. Sherwood is born here
BuiltPulver-Bird, House is built
In the archiveStanford (Township)
In the archiveStanfordville station, circa 1897
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltBangall Post Office is built2 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Stanford. 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 Stanford.
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 Stanford’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 1750, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Stanford’s post office opened in 1814, and the census of 1820 counted 2,518 people here.
Stanford is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #155 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.
6 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Dr. Cornelius Nase Campbell House (listed 2007, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Walter Beckwith House and the Wethersfield, with 29 contributing buildings. 36 historic buildings in all.
22% of Stanford’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.5 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1971.
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), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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.
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