Founding year: the first Tivoli post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1872.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Tivoli’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Tivoli is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Tivoli’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 Tivoli’s 10.6 sits near the middle of its state (47% of New York towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±11.7 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1872.
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 Tivoli’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
For thousands of years, indigenous peoples had lived in this area. The historic Mohican Native American tribe was living in the area now known as Tivoli at the time Dutch colonists arrived in the 1600s. The Mohican derive from Lenni Lenape people who moved North from the coastal areas and settled in today’s Hudson Valley. They lived along the Hudson River which they named Mahicannituck. They originally called themselves the Muh-he-con-neok (The People of the Waters That Are Never Still). Based on their location, they were often referred to as the River Indians. Their name evolved in spelling over the years, including the name “Mahikan”, until it became today’s Mohican.
Passages that mention Tivoli, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Dutchess County, New York1909 · page 426Read the page →
Read the text
The town has changed but little since the publication of the last history of Dutchess County. The villages of Red Hook and Tivoli- Madalin continue to be the chief centers of population, and Barrytown maintains its importance as a railroad depot for the surrounding country.
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
Tivoli, 1841 to 1938
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.
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 Tivoli post office opened in 1831, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1872.
How does Tivoli rank for history?
Tivoli is more historic than 86% 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.
How old are the homes in Tivoli?
42% of Tivoli’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.7 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1954.
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 (5), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
2006