Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Germania Wine Cellars · Photo: Pubdog · Public domainMore historic than 98% of U.S. towns. What drives it
7 places in town are on the National Register, among them three historic districts with 350 buildings between them. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1903 on, and the census since 1830.
Urbana dates its founding to 1793 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1830.
More historic than 98% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Urbana is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
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 Urbana’s 1,825 sits above most of its state (99% of New York towns have fewer) while its 356 historic buildings outnumber those of 96% of U.S. towns.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Urbana’s history is told.
Urbana had its own post office from 1822 to 1927. Two 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).
From Wikipedia’s history of Urbana.
The town was formed from part of the Town of Bath in 1822. The first grape vines were planted around 1829, beginning the modern prominence of the wine industry.
The town and its village, Hammondsport, is one of the cradles of aviation, due to the inventions of Glenn Curtiss.
The Timothy M. Younglove Octagon House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
BuiltPleasant Valley Wine Company is built
In the archiveUrbana (Township)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2010FLT M12 9.5 mi - Puncheon at RR, 1x6x24 deck boards, …
2010FLT M12 8.1 mi - Register along Mitchellsville Gorge
2010FLT M12 7.7 mi - Stile, corkscrew type, 3x6 posts, 2x…
2010FLT M12 18.23 mi - Outhouse at Irene's Campsite
2010FLT M12 18.22 mi - Irene's Campsite with bench, fire …
2010FLT M12 18.21 mi - Sign at Irene's Campsite
2010FLT M12 18.2 mi - Trail register at Irene's Campsite
2010FLT M12 18.1 mi - Spring on blue blazed loop at Irene…
2010FLT M12 14.0 mi - Sign at Winding Stairs Rd
2010FLT M12 13.41 mi - Bivouac area on June Bug Trail 100…
2010FLT M12 13.4 mi - Register near June Bug Trail on Mt.…Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Urbana. 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 Urbana.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Urbana’s page.
Retake this view · +15Peaked at 2,982 in 1980; 2,125 people lived here in 2020.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Urbana’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Urbana itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1793, according to Wikidata. Urbana’s post office opened in 1822, and the census of 1830 counted 1,288 people here.
Urbana is more historic than 98% 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.
7 listings: 4 buildings, among them the Pleasant Valley Wine Company (listed 1980, the first), and 3 historic districts, the Pulteney Square Historic District, the Germania Wine Cellars and the Village of Hammondsport Historic District, with 350 contributing buildings. 356 historic buildings in all.
36% of Urbana’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (7), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
