National Register of Historic Places listings in Orleans County, New York facts for kids
Orleans County, New York, is home to many special places listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This register is like a national scrapbook of important buildings, sites, and areas that tell America's story. When a place is on this list, it means it's worth protecting and remembering for future generations.
In Orleans County, there are 27 places on this list. Two of them, the New York State Barge Canal and the Cobblestone Historic District, are even more special. They are called National Historic Landmarks, which means they are super important to the history of the entire country!
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Cool Places in Orleans County
Orleans County has fewer listed places than most other counties in New York. But the ones it has are very interesting! Seven of these listings are historic districts. A historic district is an area with many buildings that share a common history or style. For example, Mount Albion Cemetery is a historic site, but it's also considered a district because of its size and many features. The other 20 listings are individual buildings.
What Kinds of Buildings?
Many of the buildings on the list were once homes. Some were even inns that later became houses. The Tousley-Church House, for instance, is now used by the local Daughters of the American Revolution group. The historic districts also include many homes.
Other important buildings include the post offices in Albion and Medina, and the Medina Armory. The armory is now a YMCA, a place for sports and community activities. While no churches or schools are listed on their own, some are part of larger historic districts. For example, the Cobblestone Historic District has an old one-room schoolhouse.
How Big Are These Places?
The five historic districts in Orleans County cover about 104 acres. Most of this land belongs to Mt. Albion Cemetery, which is the largest listed site at 70 acres. The Cobblestone Historic District is the smallest historic landmark district in New York. It has three buildings on less than an acre of land.
The other three districts are in the busy downtown areas of Medina and Albion. Albion has two districts that are right next to each other. One has public buildings, churches, and homes, while the other is mostly shops and businesses. Medina's Main Street Historic District is almost all commercial buildings.
Most buildings within these historic districts are considered "contributing properties." This means they help make the district special. The Albion post office is in a historic district, but it's not a "contributing property" because it was built much later than the other buildings in that area.
Places on the National Register
Legend: National Register of Historic Places listing National Historic Landmark Historic district National Historic Landmark District
| Name on the Register | Image | Date listed | Location | City or town | Description | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bacon–Harding Farm |
 |
(#13000041) |
3077 Oak Orchard Road 43°16′02″N 78°11′31″W / 43.267273°N 78.192016°W |
Gaines | This farm is over 200 years old and still owned by the same family. It has a beautiful 1844 cobblestone farmhouse. |
| 2 | William V. N. Barlow House |
 |
(#83001757) |
223 S. Clinton St. 43°14′22″N 78°11′47″W / 43.239444°N 78.196389°W |
Albion | William Barlow, who designed many important buildings in Albion, built this unique home for himself in 1875. It still has one of the village's few old hand-pumped wells. |
| 3 | Jackson Blood Cobblestone House |
 |
(#05000635) |
142 S. Main St. 43°19′00″N 78°23′22″W / 43.316775°N 78.389383°W |
Lyndonville | The Blood family supposedly built this fancy 1846 cobblestone house by bringing stones from Lake Ontario themselves. |
| 4 | Boxwood Cemetery |
(#14001216) |
3717 N. Gravel Rd. 43°14′04″N 78°23′59″W / 43.2344879°N 78.3996647°W |
Medina | This small cemetery started in the 1860s. Many of Medina's first settlers are buried here. | |
| 5 | Butterfield Cobblestone House |
 |
(#10000044) |
4690 Bennetts Corners Rd. 43°11′19″N 78°01′02″W / 43.188611°N 78.017222°W |
Clarendon | Built in 1849, this cobblestone house is the only one of its kind in Clarendon. It's considered the best example of its style in the county. |
| 6 | Clarendon Stone Store |
(#12000258) |
16301 E. Lee Rd. 43°11′38″N 78°03′53″W / 43.1938°N 78.0647°W |
Clarendon | This old general store was one of the first buildings to use local Medina sandstone. It's also known as the "Old Stone Store." | |
| 7 | Cobblestone Historic District |
 |
(#93001603) |
Ridge Rd. (NY 104) 43°17′13″N 78°11′24″W / 43.286944°N 78.19°W |
Childs | This is Orleans County's only National Historic Landmark. It has three 19th-century cobblestone buildings, including New York's oldest known cobblestone church. |
| 8 | Cobblestone Inn |
 |
(#07000755) |
12226 Ridge Rd. 43°16′28″N 78°19′59″W / 43.274444°N 78.333056°W |
Oak Orchard on-the-Ridge | Built in 1837, this tavern might be the largest cobblestone building in the state. It used to be a restaurant and is now two homes. |
| 9 | Benjamin Franklin Gates House |
 |
(#09000378) |
13079 W. Lee Rd. 43°12′10″N 78°16′43″W / 43.202778°N 78.278611°W |
Barre | Benjamin Gates, an early settler, built this house and the area's first tannery around 1830. It's still a working farm today. |
| 10 | Hillside Cemetery |
(#13000450) |
NY 237 & S. Holley Rd. 43°12′57″N 78°01′54″W / 43.2159488°N 78.0315884°W |
Clarendon | This cemetery is the resting place for many early settlers of the town. It was later changed into a rural cemetery. | |
| 11 | Holley Village Historic District |
 |
(#15000539) |
1 Village Sq., 3-35 Frisbe Terrace, Public Sq., 32-34 Albion, 1-13 S. Main, 1 Wright, 2 White, 1 & 4-18 Thomas Sts. 43°13′33″N 78°01′36″W / 43.225767°N 78.0266787°W |
Holley | This district shows how the village of Holley grew over 100 years. It follows a special street plan along the Erie Canal. |
| 12 | Main Street Historic District |
 |
(#95000213) |
Roughly, along Main and Center Sts., West Ave. and Proctor Pl. 43°13′13″N 78°23′13″W / 43.220278°N 78.386944°W |
Medina | This area was the first part of Medina to be built after the Erie Canal. Its buildings show Medina's industrial past, from the 1830s to the 1940s. |
| 13 | Medina Armory |
 |
(#95000399) |
302 Pearl St. 43°13′19″N 78°23′32″W / 43.221944°N 78.392222°W |
Medina | This building was made from local Medina sandstone in 1901. It is now the Lake Plains YMCA. |
| 14 | Millville Cemetery |
 |
(#07001126) |
E. Shelby Rd. 43°11′23″N 78°19′28″W / 43.189722°N 78.324444°W |
Millville | This beautiful 1871 rural cemetery is on a small hill. Many people from this old farming village are buried here. |
| 15 | Mt. Albion Cemetery |
 |
(#76001261) |
New York State Route 31 43°14′22″N 78°09′20″W / 43.239444°N 78.155556°W |
Town of Albion | This rural cemetery was built in 1842 outside Albion. It has a Civil War monument and a chapel. Many important people from the 1800s are buried here, including a former governor of Georgia. |
| 16 | New York State Barge Canal |
(#14000860) |
Linear across county 43°14′56″N 78°11′27″W / 43.248815°N 78.190914°W |
Albion, Gaines, Holley, Medina, Murray, Ridgeway, Shelby | This canal system was built in the early 1900s to replace the Erie Canal. It helped New York compete with railroads for moving goods. | |
| 17 | North Main-Bank Streets Historic District |
 |
(#94001341) |
Roughly, along N. Main, E. Bank, W. Bank and Liberty Sts. 43°14′51″N 78°11′37″W / 43.2475°N 78.193611°W |
Albion | This is one of Albion's two downtown historic districts. It has many old shops and businesses that are still much like they were a century after the Erie Canal was finished. |
| 18 | Orleans County Courthouse Historic District |
 |
(#79001617) |
Courthouse Sq. and environs 43°14′45″N 78°11′36″W / 43.245833°N 78.193333°W |
Albion | This district is the heart of Albion's government and religious life. It centers around the 1858 county courthouse and includes homes, businesses, and seven churches, many built with local Medina sandstone. |
| 19 | Payjack Chevrolet Building |
 |
(#12000259) |
320 N. Main St. 43°13′21″N 78°23′16″W / 43.22259°N 78.38786°W |
Medina | This 1949 concrete building is a great example of a car dealership built to the international standards of General Motors at that time. |
| 20 | Servoss House |
 |
(#08000104) |
3963 Fruit Ave. 43°13′00″N 78°25′51″W / 43.216667°N 78.430833°W |
Ridgeway | A former canal worker built this house in the early 1830s. It has an unusual way of building with horizontal planks. |
| 21 | John Shelp Cobblestone House |
 |
(#08001079) |
10181 West Shelby Rd. 43°09′17″N 78°27′51″W / 43.154722°N 78.464167°W |
West Shelby | This fancy 1836 cobblestone house had its inside updated in the late 1800s to the popular Queen Anne Style. |
| 22 | Skinner-Tinkham House |
 |
(#04000291) |
4652 Oak Orchard Rd. 43°11′11″N 78°11′40″W / 43.186389°N 78.194444°W |
Barre Center | This 1829 brick building was once a tavern along a busy road. It's one of the few old brick buildings of its style left in the county. |
| 23 | Stevens–Sommerfeldt House |
(#15000268) |
5482 Holley-Byron Rd. 43°08′52″N 78°04′15″W / 43.147887°N 78.0707476°W |
Clarendon vicinity | This stone house was built in the 1820s and is a rare example of an early American style. | |
| 24 | Tousley-Church House |
 |
(#01001565) |
249 N. Main St. 43°15′08″N 78°11′34″W / 43.252222°N 78.192778°W |
Albion | This 1840 house was expanded ten years later with a very special design. Since the 1930s, it has been home to the local Daughters of the American Revolution chapter. |
| 25 | US Post Office-Albion |
 |
(#88002450) |
8 S. Main St. 43°14′46″N 78°11′39″W / 43.246°N 78.194083°W |
Albion | This 1937 post office uses a popular design for post offices in New York. It's in the Orleans County Courthouse Historic District, but it's not considered part of that district's original history. |
| 26 | US Post Office-Medina |
 |
(#88002351) |
128 W. Center St. 43°13′14″N 78°23′19″W / 43.220556°N 78.388611°W |
Medina | This fancy 1931 post office design was only used one other time, in Salem, Indiana. |
