Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Tompkins was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. Its Register listings are the Common School 32 and the Rock Rift Fire Observation Tower. Below: maps from 1924 on and the census since 1820.
The Tompkins post office opened in 1812, the earliest record of the town by name. Five smaller post offices, Rock Rift (1850), Apex (1881) and Read Creek (1882), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 65% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Tompkins is more historic than 65% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Tompkins’ 16.8 sits near the middle of its state (54% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2 listings 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.
Tompkins had its own post office from 1812 to 1830. 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 Tompkins’s history is told.
Peaked at 4,046 in 1870; 1,290 people lived here in 2020.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Tompkins’ Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Tompkins.
The town was formed in 1806 from part of the town of Franklin. The western part of the town was lost to form the town of Deposit in 1880.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Tompkins, cut from the printed page as they were published.
By an act of the legislature passed February 22, 1811, the township of Danby was formed from Spencer as a township in Tioga county, and in the year 1822 it became a township in Tompkins county, and in the year 1839 a portion of Caroline was attached to it. It is bounded on the north by Ithaca and Dryden, on the east by Caroline in Tompkins county and Candor in
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The county of Chemung is bounded on the north by the counties of Schuyler and Tompkins, on the east hj Tioga county, N. Y., on the south by the Pennsylvania state line, and on the wesi by Steuben, The Chemung river enters the county from the west, in the town of Big Flats, about eight miles north of the Pennsylvania state line, and running easterly and southeasterly through Big Flats enters the town of Elmira, and passes through the center of the city of Elmira, thence southerly through the town of Southport, and along the eastern line of Ashland, enters and runs through the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
finally made a settlement in New London, Conn. By education he was a surveyor and navigator. Previous to his settlement in Connecticut he was a sea captain and came to America in that capacity. The first attempt of immigration and settlement of Tompkins county, of which we have any authentic record, was in the year 1788. In June of that year a party of explorers, with the flats at the head of Cayuga Lake as an objective point, headed by Jonathan Woodworth and accompanied by his two sons, Nehemiah and Charles, left their home, and finding the present site of Ithaca a desirable location, made a settlement there. Mr. Woodworth with his two sons sur-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
man L. Estabrook, formerly of Schuyler county. He was admitted to the bar in 1880, and practiced law at Havana, N. Y., until 1883, when he removed to Ithaca. He was for a number of years stenographer for the courts of Schuyler, Tioga and Tompkins counties, and filled the position of clerk of Surrogate's Court of Tompkins county four years. In 1889 he was appointed by Governer Hill, special county judge of Tompkins county. He was official stenographer and librarian for Court of Appeals, Second Division, during its continuance. At present he is librarian of the Buffalo Law Library.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
BuiltRock Rift Fire Observation Tower is builtEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Tompkins. 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 Tompkins.
The 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 Tompkins itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Tompkins post office opened in 1812, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Tompkins is more historic than 65% 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.
Two places: the Common School 32 (listed 2017) and the Rock Rift Fire Observation Tower (2018).
9% of Tompkins’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.6 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1992.
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 (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.
2025
2019
2019
2009
