Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Jay was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2001. Below: maps from 1920 on and the census since 1810.
The Jay post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Jay’s history is told.
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1880 and 1970, then grew 3-fold.
22 censuses, 1810–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Jay’s Wikipedia page.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Jay. 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 Jay.
From Wikipedia’s history of Jay.
On November 10, 1943, a Royal Canadian Air Force training plane crashed into the west side of the mountain near the top during a blinding snowfall killing one crew member.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Jay, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The first settler of Jay was a Mr. Barter, who began the settlement in 1809. A few families followed him within two or three years, but the war of 1812 filled them with such fears of danger from Canada, that they abandoned the settlement. Barter, however, remained, populated the town with his own sons and daughters to the number of 20, and
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In Jay the first settler was Mr. Baxter, who came into town in 1809. A few families joined him previous to the war of 1812, but, upon the declaration of war, they all abandoned the settlement and left him alone. In despite of the war and the cold seasons that followed, he maintained his post like a veteran, and, like a skillful commander, deeming a numer-
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.
Jay had its own post office from 1836 to 1905.
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 Jay post office opened in 1836, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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 (3), 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), 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.
2025
2011
2004