Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1811. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ulysses’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ulysses is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #312 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ulysses’ 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 Ulysses’ 14.6 sits near the middle of its state (52% of New York towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.0 points). Two sources give 1790.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Ulysses’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Ulysses is located in the former Central New York Military Tract, which was used to pay soldiers of the American Revolution. It was named by Robert Harpur in 1790 for the hero of Homer's Odyssey. The town was first settled around 1790.
The town once contained the towns of Dryden (est. 1803), Enfield (est. 1821) and Ithaca (est. 1821 and named for Ulysses' home in ancient Greece). Ulysses was organized in 1794 while still a part of Onondaga County. The village of Trumansburg, the main settlement in Ulysses, was started by Abner Treman in 1792.
Passages that mention Ulysses, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The story of Ulysses S. Grant, for young readers1898 · page 5Read the page →
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Hiram Ulysses Grant was enrolled as Ulysses Simpson Grant through a mistake of the congressman who appointed him to the position. Ulysses tried to have the name changed ; but he was called Ulysses Simpson the rest of his life.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A personal history of Ulysses S. Grant, illustrated by thirty-two engravings, fac-similes of letters from Grant, Lincoln, Sheridan, Buckner, Lee, etc. ..1885 · page 38Read the page →
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Ulysses, both romantic and classic, originated thus : Shortly after marriage, Jesse read Fenelon' s Telemachus, of which a copy had strayed into the settlement. Afterward the book fell into the hands of old Mrs. Simpson. Both were deeply impressed with the character of the hero's father, "the Avise Ulysses," whom Fenelon depicts from classic song and story, and of whom, by the grace of Alexander Pope, Homer sings : —
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A personal history of Ulysses S. Grant, illustrated by thirty-two engravings, fac-similes of letters from Grant, Lincoln, Sheridan, Buckner, Lee, etc. ..1885 · page 65Read the page →
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appointment, but without referring again to Jesse's letter for the first name of the applicant, as the Grant family, being his neighbors, were all known to him. Confounding the name of Ulysses with that of his younger brother, he asked the Secretary for the appointment of Ulysses Simpson, and then wrote back to Jesse : "I received your letter and have asked for the appointment of your son, which will doubtless be made. Why didn't you apply to me
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
Ulysses, 1790 to 1902
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1790, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Ulysses’ post office opened in 1811, and the census of 1820 counted 6,345 people here.
How does Ulysses rank for history?
Ulysses is more historic than 87% of U.S. towns, #312 of 758 in New York. 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.
What is on the National Register in Ulysses?
6 listings: 6 buildings, among them the Hermon Camp House (listed 1973, the first). 7 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Ulysses?
30% of Ulysses’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.0 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1959.
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 (9), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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