Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: 1 old photo or paper from 1999 on.
The Valhalla post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name.
Valhalla was originally known as Davis Brook until it was renamed following the construction of a post office inside the hamlet's train station in 1861.
At the time the station was called "Kensico", but due to the nearby hamlet of Kensico already having a post office, a unique name was needed. The name "Valhalla" was chosen by the wife of the postmaster, Andrew J. Kinch, who was an admirer of Richard Wagner's operas and, consequently, Norse mythology.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Valhalla’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Valhalla.
The area was once known as Four Corners, or Young's Corners, and was the property of Joseph Young, a local landowner. His house was a Continental Army outpost during the American Revolutionary War and became the site of a significant skirmish between British forces and American troops encamped there on February 3, 1780.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Valhalla post office opened in 1861, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia and Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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