Founding year: the first Wappingers Falls post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1871.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Wappingers Falls’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Wappingers Falls is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #161 of 758 in New York. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Wappingers Falls’ 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 Wappingers Falls’ 227 sits above most of its state (84% of New York towns have fewer) while its 131 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±7.8 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata gives 1871.
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 →
What stands out about Wappingers Falls’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Wappingers Falls. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1893Poughkeepsie sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Wappingers Falls.
Every building
Wappingers Falls, building by building, 1887–1912
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The Wappinger were an Algonquian-speaking confederacy of Native Americans whose territory in the 17th century extended along the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Primarily based in what is now Dutchess County, their territory was bordered by Manhattan Island to the south, the Mahican territory bounded by the Roeliff Jansen Kill to the north, and extended east into parts of Connecticut. Wappinger means "easterner" in most Algonquian languages.
Passages that mention Wappingers Falls, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Dutchess County, New York1909 · page 733Read the page →
Read the text
J. L. HUGHES, former president of the village of Wappingers Falls, was bom in. this village in 1869, and as a young man was employed in his father's grocery store.. From 1888 to 1893 he was associated with his brother in the grocery business at
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
Wappingers Falls, 1863 to 1999
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Wappingers Falls post office opened in 1849, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1871.
How does Wappingers Falls rank for history?
Wappingers Falls is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns, #161 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 Wappingers Falls?
6 listings: 1 building, among them the Grinnell - Satterlee House (listed 2026, the first). 131 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Wappingers Falls?
31% of Wappingers Falls’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.8 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (4), Wikidata (2), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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.
2013
2008