Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1830.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Walworth’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Walworth is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #683 of 758 in New York. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Walworth’s 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 Walworth’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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.2 points). Two sources give 1799.
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 Walworth’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The town was first settled in 1799 when four brothers — Andrew, John, Samuel, and Daniel Millet — left their homes in Connecticut and became the first settlers in what is now the hamlet of Walworth, building the first log cabins there.
Stephen and Daniel Douglas, also from Connecticut, settled in the area in 1800. Stephen Douglas built the first frame house at the hamlet's present four corners, and the growing community became known for a time as Douglas Corners.
The Town of Walworth was organized from the Town of Ontario by act of the New York State Legislature on April 20, 1829, the last town formed in Wayne County.
Passages that mention Walworth, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources...its war record, biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers1882 · page 791Read the page →
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The meetings, both religious and business, were held in the cobble-stone schoolhouse in the eastern part of the town of Walworth till April, 1855, when they were held alternately in said schoolhouse and at the schoolhouse in the village of Walworth. In 1857, Big Foot Academy was finished, and an academic school opened therein in December of that year. The meetings were then held in the academy until the completion of the new meetinorhouse. The new church edifice was finished and dedicated in March, 1874. The building is gothic in style, has a fine basement room for the Sabbath school and business meetings, and has one of the finest audience rooms above probably to be found in the county.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Walworth county, Wisconsin ..1912 · page 248Read the page →
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The town of Walworth (with Sharon) was set off in 1839, and the town of Darien early in the next year, leaving the name Delavan to town 2 north, range 16 east. One more dismemberment, February 2, 1846, gave section 1 to the new town of Elkhorn. Of seven measurements recorded by the state topographers the highest and lowest points were respectively nine hundred and sixty-eight ami nine hundred and five feet above sea-level.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, containing an account of its settlement, growth, development and resources...its war record, biographical sketches, portraits of prominent men and early settlers1882 · page 472Read the page →
Read the text
1846, at which time, by act of the Legislatiu-e, a new town of Elkhorn was incorporated, which embraced but a single section of the original town, viz.. Section 36, in Town 3, Range 16. By that act, the present town of Elkhorn was established. The boundaries were described as follows: "All that part of the county of Walworth comprised in Section 36, in the town of Elkhorn; Section 1, in the town of Delavan: Section 6, in the town of Geneva, and Section 31, in the town of La Fayette, is hereby set off and organized into a separate town by the name of Elkhorn," and except Section 36, the remaining part of Elkhorn was organized as a new town under the name of Sugar Creek. The town of Elkhorn, as organized by the act of Februaiy
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At the first session of the second Territorial Assembly (which was the first session held at Madison), beginning November 26, 1838, Col. James Maxwell, of the town of Walworth, appeared in Council for the counties of Rock and Walworth, and held his seat through that and the next Assembly, which latter body adjourned February 19, 1842. To the fourth Assembly came Charles Minton Baker, of Geneva, serving from December 5, 1842, to February 3, 1846. His colleague for the joint district, which now had two members, was Edward Vernon Whiton, afterward the first
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
Walworth, 1799 to 1934
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1799, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Walworth’s post office opened in 1830, and the census of 1830 counted 1,781 people here.
How does Walworth rank for history?
Walworth is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #683 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.
How old are the homes in Walworth?
13% of Walworth’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1983.
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 (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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