Starkey’s post office opened in 1825, and 40% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns · #97 of 758 in New York. What drives it
10 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 78 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1830.
The Starkey post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Harpending's Corners (1826) and Glenora (1868), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 2,285 in 18302020 census: 3,407201 years
How historic is Starkey?
A+
More historic than 96% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Starkey post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Starkey’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Starkey is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #97 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Starkey’s overall grade.
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 Starkey’s 293 sits above most of its state (86% of New York towns have fewer) while its 99 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 →
What stands out about Starkey’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Starkey may have been settled around 1798, but a scouting party of the Sullivan Expedition of 1779, found an occupied cabin north of Glenora.
The town became part of the county in 1824, the year after Yates County was created, and was formed from the town of Reading (in Schuyler County).
The Thomas Bennett Curtis House, William Swortz House, Crescent Methodist Episcopal Church, John Noyes House, Starkey United Methodist Church, Daniel Supplee Cobblestone Farmhouse, and Dr. Henry Spence Cobblestone Farmhouse and Barn Complex are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Passages that mention Starkey, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The military history of Yates County, N.Y.1895 · page 13Read the page →
Read the text
Yates County was . organized February 5, 1823, and was named in honor of Joseph C. Yates, then Governor of the State of New York. The towns of Barrington and Starkey were added to the couuty in 1820, and the town of Torrey was organized in 1851. Twenty-three years after the organization of our county, war was declared by the United States against Mexico. The principal military operations in that war were the invasion of Northern Mexico by the American
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.
Timeline
Starkey, 1819 to 1980
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Starkey post office opened in 1825, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Starkey rank for history?
Starkey is more historic than 96% of U.S. towns, #97 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.
What is on the National Register in Starkey?
10 listings: 9 buildings, among them the Spence, Dr. Henry, Cobblestone Farmhouse and Barn Complex (listed 1992, the first), and 1 historic district, the Dundee Village Historic District, with 78 contributing buildings. 99 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Starkey?
40% of Starkey’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.8 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (10), 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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