Founding year: the first Weedsport post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Weedsport’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Weedsport is more historic than 92% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Weedsport’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 Weedsport’s 30.7 sits near the middle of its state (62% 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 A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.9 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 Weedsport’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Weedsport was within the Central New York Military Tract. The village was originally named "Weed's Basin" because the town had a basin (boat turnaround) during the Erie Canal era. The name was then changed to Weedsport.
During the Erie Canal era, Weedsport competed with the neighboring village, Port Byron, to be an entry port for the city of Auburn. The two villages competed economically until both fell under financial troubles during the closing of their respective ports (a friendly rivalry remains to this day, mostly in local sports).
Passages that mention Weedsport, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Cayuga County, New York1908 · page 413Read the page →
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Meridian village, formerly "Cato Four Corners" in the north part, was incorporated October 17, 1854. It is situated near the north line and is two miles on the Southern Central Railroad, and eight miles north of Weedsport. It is a quiet, attractive and thrifty village of eight hundred inhabitants, with nicely shaded streets and good walks. It contains three churches, a district school, two hotels, machine shop and foundry, printing office, and a variety of mercantile establishments
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Cayuga County, New York1908 · page 424Read the page →
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Port Byron (twin sister village of Weedsport) , three miles away, is near the center of the town on the Owasco Outlet and Erie Canal, one mile south of the New York Central Railroad, and seven miles north of Auburn, with which it is connected by stage. It is situated in a valley on whose surrounding hills some of the primitive trees are yet standing. It occupies the greater part of lot 73, in the former township of Aurelius, that lot having been the purchase of two brothers, Aboliah and Elijah Buck, who settled on it in 1798.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Cayuga County, New York1879 · page 288Read the page →
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town near the center of the south border and leaves it in the north-west part ; and by its connection with the New York Central Railroad and Erie Canal at Weedsport and the Lake Ontario Shore Railroad at Sterling, opens up very accessible markets for its valuable pomonic and varied agricultural products.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Cayuga County, New York1879 · page 295Read the page →
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The business at this station is said to exceed that at Weedsport on the same road. There is a sharp competition among its merchants for a village of its size, and it exhibits corresponding activity. It has many of the elements of an attractive village. It contains three churches, (Reformed, Campbellite and R. C.,) a union school, four stores, three cigar shops, a steam saw
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
Weedsport, decade by decade
3 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1980s. 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.
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 Weedsport post office opened in 1822, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Weedsport rank for history?
Weedsport is more historic than 92% 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 Weedsport?
44% of Weedsport’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1957.
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.
1904
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