Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Daniel Case · CC BY-SA 3.0More historic than 59% of U.S. towns · #611 of 758 in New York. What drives it
3 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1890.
More historic than 59% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Woodbury is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #611 of 758 in New York. All 2 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
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 Woodbury’s 4.4 sits below most of its state (33% of New York towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Woodbury’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Woodbury. 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 Woodbury.
From Wikipedia’s history of Woodbury.
The region was once called Woodbury Clove ("valley"), and not to be confused with Woodbury, Nassau County, Long Island, New York.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Woodbury, cut from the printed page as they were published.
James Hannah, To Doctr Benjn Hawely of Woodbury in Litchfield County these are to notifie you to appear before the Comtt of Observation for the Town of Woodbury at the Dwelling house of Gideon Walker Esqr in sd Woodbury on the third monday of Instant augt at Ten of the Clock in the fore noon (if you see cause) then and there to answer unto the foregoing Information and Shew Reasons if any you Can why you should not he proceeded against and dealt with according to the advic of the Continantal Congress Dated at Woodbury the 14th Day
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
parish of South Britain, Southbury, and part of Oxford parish into a sepirate town, or the parish of Bethlehem, or the parish of Roxbury, that they would order and decree that each inhabitant, that has land lying in the bounds of "Woodbury, as the bounds now are, shall put all his lands into the list in that town where the owner shall reside after such Incorporation." This petition was granted at the May session of the General Assembly, 1787 ; and the town incorporated by the name of Southbury. It is believed, though the proof is not now at hand, that the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
THE town of Woodbury is located in the southeast section of Orange County. Bounded on the north by the towns of Blooming Grove and Cornwall, on the east by the town of Highland, on the south by Rockland County and the town of Tuxedo, while the town of Monroe forms its western boundary. It has an area of 23,839 acres, and the title to the soil is mainly derived through the Chesecook patent. The assessed valuation of real estate in the town in 1907 was $802,371.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveOrange Hotel
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveHarriman Station
In the archiveHarriman Station - 19103 decades in the archive, from the 1830s to the 1910s. 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 Woodbury’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 1,528 people in 1890 to 12,197 in 2020, 7 times over.
14 censuses, 1890–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Woodbury’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Woodbury itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Woodbury is more historic than 59% of U.S. towns, #611 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.
14% of Woodbury’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.2 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 (4), Wikidata (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) 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.
2006