Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1792.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Warwick’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Warwick is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #155 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 Warwick’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 Warwick’s 314 sits above most of its state (87% of New York towns have fewer) while its 207 historic buildings outnumber those of 93% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1788.
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 (±5.2 points).
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 Warwick’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
In the early 1700s, one of the original patent holders, Benjamin Aske, named his land "Warwick", presumably after an area of England near his original ancestral home. He began to sell it off to settlers in 1719. His first parcel of land, 100 acres, was sold to Lawrence Decker. Other familiar family names of the Valley appeared in subsequent years. The European population of the valley grew rapidly from 1730 to 1765, and the previously existing populations of indigenous native people declined as forests and land were cleared for pasture and were re-organized. By the start of the American Revolution, almost all of the native population had disappeared in various ways. The region has been referred to as Warwick since the early eighteenth century, but a governmental form for a town named Warwick was officially created in 1788.
Passages that mention Warwick, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of the town and castle of Tamworth, in the counties of Stafford & Warwick1845 · page 169Read the page →
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Queen-dowager and her attendants, there were added the earl of Warwick, lord lieutenant of the county of Warwick; discount Ingestre; the hon. and rev. Henry Edward John Howard, dean of Lichfield; and Charles Newdegate Newdegate, esq., M. P. for North Warwickshire.
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An historical and descriptive account of the town and castle of Warwick and of the neighbouring spa of Leamington1815Read the page →
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<< It was the custom of Warwick, that* when the King went on an expedition by land, 10 Burgesses of Warwick went in lieu of all. He who did not go when summoned, paid the King one hundred shillings. And if tbe King went by sea against his enemies, 4 mariners (bacsweins—- boatswains) or 4 pounds in pence were sent to him.'*
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The history of the town and castle of Tamworth, in the counties of Stafford & Warwick1845 · page 503Read the page →
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Pages 49, 60. We have been favoured by William Staunton, esq., of Longbridge-house, near Warwick, with a note of five silver pennies issued from the royal mint of Tamworth, which are in his collection, differing from any we have mentioned.
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.
By decade
Warwick, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
In 1788, according to Wikidata. Warwick’s post office opened in 1792, and the census of 1820 counted 4,506 people here.
How does Warwick rank for history?
Warwick is more historic than 95% of U.S. towns, #155 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 Warwick?
29% of Warwick’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1979.
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), 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.
1872
1875
1875
1875