Founding year: the first Waverly post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Wikidata: 1854.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Waverly’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Waverly is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #471 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Waverly’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 Waverly’s 13.9 sits near the middle of its state (51% of New York towns have fewer) while its 6 historic buildings outnumber those of 72% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.5 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date; Wikidata’s 1854 falls in the same era, so the grade doesn’t depend on which one is used.
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 Waverly’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
In earlier times, this territory was a prime location for Native American travel, trade, and warfare because of its strategic location a valley surrounding the confluence of two rivers along the New York state border where the mouth of the Chemung River empties into the Susquehanna River as it turns southward into Pennsylvania. This locale was likely occupied by the Susquehannock people for several centuries before European pathfinders discovered this place.
During the three-quarters of a century of separate history in this town, among the several villages built up only one has attained to the dignity and character of a municipality. Old Factoryville is now wholly lost in the more progressive village of Waverly, and the old-time importance of Barton city is fast fading away. Bingham’s Mills, as previously known, but now Lockwood, and Reniff are stations on the Lehigh Valiev railroad ; North Barton is in the north part of the town, Halsey Valley in the northeast,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Saint James’s church, Roman Catholic, at Waverly was organized as a parish soon after 1850, and the first church edifice was built in 1852 (a recently prepared sketch by a parishoner says 1856), and stood in Erie street, on the site now occupied by the works of the Elbow company. The edifice at the corner of Clark and Chemung streets was begun in 1870, and was dedicated Sept.
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
Waverly, 1828 to 1956
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.
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 Waverly post office opened in 1850, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1854.
How does Waverly rank for history?
Waverly is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #471 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 Waverly?
50% of Waverly’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.5 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 (3), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (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.
1881
1881
