Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns · #596 of 758 in New York. What drives it
Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1820.
The Westerlo post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Dormansville (1832), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 61% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Westerlo is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #596 of 758 in New York. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Westerlo’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.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Westerlo’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1820 and 1930, then more than doubled.
21 censuses, 1820–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Westerlo’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Westerlo. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Westerlo.
From Wikipedia’s history of Westerlo.
Westerlo was formed from parts of the Towns of Coeymans and Rensselaerville in 1815. It is named after Rev. Eilardus Westerlo (1738–1790), who was minister of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church (now called The First Church) in Albany, NY, from 1760 to 1790.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereJoseph Lobdell is born here
In the archiveWesterlo (Township)
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveColonial Manor, South2 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Westerlo’s page.
Retake this view · +15Westerlo’s post office has been open since 1819. Another post office, Dormansville, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Westerlo post office opened in 1819, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Westerlo is more historic than 61% of U.S. towns, #596 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.
24% of Westerlo’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 1972.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (12), Wikipedia, 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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