Tyre dates to 1794, and 33% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listings are the Wesleyan Methodist Church and the Lay, Hiram, Cobblestone Farmhouse. Below: 13 old photos and papers, maps from 1943 on, and the census since 1830.
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 region was in the Central New York Military Tract, reserved for veterans, but a reservation was established at the northern end of Cayuga Lake for natives who returned to the area. A tract at the hamlet of Tyre was granted to Revolutionary War Colonel James Livingston. The first outside settler, Ezekiel Crane, arrived about 1794. Other early settlers were Asherr Halsey, Lewis Winans, Asa Smith and Caleb Woodworth. James Magee, a prominent physician for many years, came in 1811.
The town was created from the eastern part of the Town of Junius in 1829.
rias, bidding them assemble themselves together on the night of the Christian Passover, slay all the Christians in Tyre, and then set out for Jerusalem, make away with every one whom they met and seize the city. When the plot came to the ears of the nobleman who was governor of Tyre, and of the inhabitants of that city, they laid hold upon all the Jews therein, bound them with chains of iron and cast them into prison. They closed the gates of the city and set up catapults and engines of war near them.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Tyrians sailed boldly into battle, scattered the ships of the enemy and took five hundred men prisoners. Because of this victory great honor came to the people of Tyre. Finding the capture of Tyre impossible, the king withdrew, leaving troops to besiege the city by cutting off the water supply. The city, though distressed, was not conquered. The people drank only such brackish water as they could obtain from the wells they dug, or the rain-water which they collected in cisterns. At
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.
On the map
Tyre on the map, 1943 to 1978
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Tyre. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1943Seneca Falls sheet · 1:24,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Tyre.
Then & now
Stand where they stood
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this viewDETAIL OF EAST SIDE OPENING AND FOUNDATION - Hiram Lay Carriage House, Mays Point Road, 1933
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Tyre’s page.
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 (17), 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.
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