Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the House at New Forge. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1820.
The Taghkanic post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, West Taghkanic (1835) and Taghkanick (1844), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Taghkanic is more historic than 85% 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 Taghkanic’s 15.6 sits near the middle of its state (52% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2 historic buildings outnumber those of 60% 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 Taghkanic’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1820 and 1950, then more than doubled.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Taghkanic’s Wikipedia page.
Taghkanic had its own post office from 1827 to 1843. 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 Taghkanic.
Settlement began before 1700, while the region was part of Livingston Manor. The town was formed from the town of Livingston in 1803 as the town of Granger.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Taghkanic, cut from the printed page as they were published.
ham's mills are located on Copake creek, in the western part of the town of Taghkanic, on the Hudson and Salisbury turnpike, and about midway between West Taghkanic and Glcnco mills.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
At this time commenced the existence of the Anti-Rent party as a political power, the first movement in Columbia being the organization, in the town of Taghkanic, in November, 1844, of "The Taghkanic Mutual Association,"
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.
In the archiveOld Armory, Taghkanic, N.Y
In the archiveTaghkanic (Township)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Taghkanic. 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 Taghkanic.
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 Taghkanic’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.
Nobody well known was born in Taghkanic itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Taghkanic post office opened in 1827, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Taghkanic is more historic than 85% 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.
One place: the House at New Forge (listed 1987).
32% of Taghkanic’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.7 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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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