Founding year: the first Waterville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Waterville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Waterville is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its age lowest.
A+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Waterville’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 Waterville’s 381 sits above most of its state (89% of New York towns have fewer) while its 66 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.2 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
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 Waterville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Long the traditional territory of the Iroquoian-speaking Oneida people of the Haudenosaunee, the Waterville area was first settled by European Americans circa 1792 after the United States' victory in the American Revolutionary War. The US forced the Iroquois Confederacy to cede most of its land in New York state. The settlement was known as "The Huddle". In 1808, the settlement formally took the name of Waterville. The village is named after Waterville, Maine.
Passages that mention Waterville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Oneida County, New York1878 · page 521Read the page →
Read the text
The first settler on the site of Waterville was Nathan Gurney, in 1789. Benjamin White, who located in 1792, settled in the town in 1789, and was second at Waterville.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-18781878 · page 521Read the page →
Read the text
The first settler on the site of Waterville was Nathan Gurney, in 1789. Benjamin White, who located in 1792, settled in the town in 1789, and was second at Waterville.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Oneida County, New York1878 · page 516Read the page →
Read the text
creeks, swamps, and thickets, overlaid with at least four feet of snow, that it was quite night before they reached its termination. Mr. Hale had purchased land adjoining the lot of Mr. Phelps, and Mr. Gurney had purchased lot No. 40, now in the village of Waterville, and a part of which was afterwards owned by Aaron Stafford, Esq., whose father, Ichabod Stafford, noticed as among the earliest settlers of Augusta, purchased of Gurney. They both, however, proceeded to the house of Mr. Phelps, who had moved into it only two or three days pre-
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
Waterville, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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 Waterville post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Waterville rank for history?
Waterville is more historic than 98% of U.S. towns. 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 Waterville?
64% of Waterville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1938.
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 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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