The West Monroe post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Union Settlement (1844), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 918 in 18402020 census: 4,088193 years
How historic is West Monroe?
B−
More historic than 54% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first West Monroe post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives West Monroe’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, West Monroe is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #647 of 758 in New York. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of West Monroe’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 West Monroe’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (10% of New York towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 (±5.4 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 West Monroe’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost half of its people between 1860 and 1930, then grew 6-fold.
18 censuses, 1840–2010.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on West Monroe’s Wikipedia page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
West Monroe’s post office has been open since 1833. Another post office, Union Settlement, opened and closed inside today’s town.
West Monroe
1833–today
Union Settlement
1844–1864
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Big BayDeer Run Trailer ParkDutch SettlementEvergreen Manor Mobile Home ParkGulf BridgeMud SettlementPartridge Acres Mobile Home ParkToad HarborUnion SettlementWhig HillWoodland Manor Mobile Home Park
Gone or out of use
School Number 1schoolSchool Number 2schoolSchool Number 3schoolSchool Number 4schoolSchool Number 7schoolSchool Number 8schoolToad Harbor SchoolschoolWest Marine Stationlocale
4cemeteries and burying grounds inside West Monroe
McAllisterToad HarborUnion SettlementWest Monroe
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The story so far
West Monroe, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of West Monroe yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
West Monroe is a town in Oswego County, New York, United States. The population was 4,252 at the 2010 census. The Town of West Monroe is in the southeastern part of the county. The area was first settled by non Indigenous people in 1806, when four farmers bought land from George Scriba for $2 – 2.50 per acre. Thirty-three years later, the town was established on March 21, 1839, from the town of Constantia, and by 1850 had 1197 residents.
Its first post office opened in 1833. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 4,252 to 4,088 (-4%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about West Monroe in 1877
Passages that mention West Monroe, cut from the printed page as they were published.
... History of Oswego County, New York1877 · page 368Read the page →
Read the text
The most important event since the close of the war was the building of the New York and Oswego Midland railroad, which was put in operation through the town in 0(jtober, 1869. The village of West Monroe became a station on the road. We must not omit, however, to mention the first gristmill in town, which consisted of a single run of stone, set in operation by Mr. Alvin Raymond in the year 1875, for
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The town of Constantia w;is set off from Mexico, then a part of Oneida county, April 8, 1808, and comprised at that time the present towns of Hastings, West Monroe, and Constantia. Hastings was taken off in 1825, and West Monroe in 1839, reducing Constantia to the limits of the old survey-township of Rotterdam, or No. 11 of Scriba's patent. It is the southeastern town of Oswego County, and is upon the north shore of Oneida lake, to which last fact
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
West Monroe, 1833 to 2000
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The West Monroe post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does West Monroe rank for history?
West Monroe is more historic than 54% of U.S. towns, #647 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 West Monroe?
17% of West Monroe’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
