Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listing is the Port Jefferson School. Below: maps from 1913 on and the census since 1850.
Port Jefferson dates its founding to 1842 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1850.
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 Port Jefferson’s history is told.
Peaked at 482 in 1980; 308 people lived here in 2020.
17 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Port Jefferson’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Port Jefferson. 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 Port Jefferson.
From Wikipedia’s history of Port Jefferson.
Port Jefferson had its start around the time the Miami and Erie Canal was extended to that point. The town site was platted in 1836. The village was incorporated in 1842.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyThe country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Port Jefferson itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Port Jefferson’s post office has been open since 1882. Another post office, Pratt, 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).
In 1842, according to Wikidata. Port Jefferson’s post office opened in 1834, and the census of 1850 counted 286 people here.
One place: the Port Jefferson School (listed 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). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (4), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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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