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History · Tully

Tully’s post office opened in 1804, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: old-book passages.

1804first post office
0on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
4famous people
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Quick answers

How Tully began

When was Tully founded?

1804

The Tully post office opened in 1804, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 904222 years
Founding year: the first Tully post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Tully’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Tully are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1804: 222 years of Tully.Old housesHalf of Tully’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Tully’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Tully’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Tully, 1828 to 1870

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1828Born hereCharles H. Walker is born here
  3. 1856Born hereFrank H. Hiscock is born here
  4. 1866Born hereCharles H. Vail is born here
  5. 1870Born hereIrving Gill is born here
The story

How Tully came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Tully.

Read it all →

Tully was within the former Central New York Military Tract, an area which the federal government reserved to use for granting plots of land as bounty and pay to soldiers and veterans for their service during the American Revolution. The surveyors were responsible for naming the areas. One of the assistant surveyors, being a classical scholar and professor at Kings College (Columbia), assigned names from Roman generals and statesmen, and Greek men of letters. Tully is derived from the middle name of Marcus Tullius Cicero.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Tully in 1878

Passages that mention Tully, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Michael Christian, a Revolutionary soldier, first settled in Christian Hollow, in 1792, on Lot number eighteen, township of Tully, which gave to the Hollow its name. Daniel Danforth was the first settler in this Hollow within the present town of LaFayette, in 1798.
... History of Onondaga County, New York1878Read the page →
Read the text

Michael Christian, a Revolutionary soldier, first settled in Christian Hollow, in 1792, on Lot number eighteen, township of Tully, which gave to the Hollow its name. Daniel Danforth was the first settler in this Hollow within the present town of LaFayette, in 1798.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The first grist mill in town was erected by Peter Van Camp, in 1810; a saw-mill was built at the same time and place — about three miles west of Tully village. In 1845, there were four grist mills, five saw-mills, two carding machines and one woolen factory.
... History of Onondaga County, New York1878Read the page →
Read the text

The first grist mill in town was erected by Peter Van Camp, in 1810; a saw-mill was built at the same time and place — about three miles west of Tully village. In 1845, there were four grist mills, five saw-mills, two carding machines and one woolen factory.

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.

By decade

Tully, decade by decade

Today1 recent
Untitled photo2013Untitled photo
Famous people

4 famous people were born in Tully

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Irving GillModernist architect · b. 1870
Frank H. HiscockAmerican judge · b. 1856
C
Charles H. VailAmerican writer · b. 1866
Charles H. WalkerAmerican lawyer and politician · b. 1828

Questions about Tully’s history

What year was Tully founded?

The Tully post office opened in 1804, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

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Sources

Where this page comes from

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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people 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.