Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns · #559 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1953 on, and the census since 1830.
The Veteran post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Pine Valley (1828) and Sullivanville (1851), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 66% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Veteran is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #559 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Veteran’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (10% of New York towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: the first post office (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 first neighbors to add old photos shape how Veteran’s history is told.
Lost half of its people between 1850 and 1910, then more than doubled.
20 censuses, 1830–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Veteran’s Wikipedia page.
Veteran had its own post office from 1824 to 1866. 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 Veteran.
The first settler was Green Bentley, a veteran of both the American Revolution and the French and Indian War, who arrived circa 1798. The town of Veteran was formed in 1823 from the town of Catharine, which became part of Schuyler County.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Veteran, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Second Lieutenant Edward T. Curtis, joined company as second lieutenant October 1, 1862; detached in Veteran Reserve corps March 20, 1864; promoted first lieutenant May 25, 1864; mustered out with company. Sergeant Benjamin N. Smith, transferred to non-commissioned staff May 1, 1862.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveVeteran Business Directory; Veteran (Township)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Veteran. 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 Veteran.
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 Veteran’s page.
Retake this view · +15Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Veteran post office opened in 1824, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Veteran is more historic than 66% of U.S. towns, #559 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.
30% of Veteran’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.4 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1966.
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 (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.
2009