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Photograph of Thomas Paine Cottage
Photograph by Ɱ, CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Thomas Paine Cottage

A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. 15 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1891.

From the record

“The Thomas Paine Cottage in New Rochelle, New York, in the United States, was the home from 1802 to 1806 of Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense, U.S. Founding Father, and Revolutionary War hero.”

Wikipedia article Thomas Paine Cottage, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 250 National Register listings published here for Westchester County · listed in 1972 · category: Building · a National Historic Landmark.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

  • Listed as. Paine, Thomas, Cottage - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
  • Address. 20 Sicard Ave., New Rochelle, 10804
  • When was it listed? November 1972
  • Category. building
  • City. New Rochelle city
  • Architectural style. saltbox
  • National Register reference number. 72000920 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1891 to 1995

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 104 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Thomas Paine Cottage, surveyed 1995
Topographic sheet covering Thomas Paine Cottage, surveyed 1891

Fires near this property

853 since 2000

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 853 fires within 5 miles of Thomas Paine Cottage between 2000 and 2020, burning about 448 acres in total. 59 started naturally. 80 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined544
Smoking87
Arson/incendiarism80
Natural59
Recreation and ceremony36
Equipment and vehicle use24
Debris and open burning12
Power generation/transmission/distribution4
Other causes4
Misuse of fire by a minor3

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2016Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
9 September 2015Arson/incendiarismunder an acreFire Department of New YorkNA
9 September 2015Naturalunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A
9 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
9 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
9 September 2007Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
9 September 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
8 September 2015Smokingunder an acreFire Department of New YorkN/A

Every fire recorded in Westchester County

Storms near this property

6 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names New Rochelle, the town this property stands in, in 6 storm reports between 1996 and 2008: 3 lightning, 3 thunderstorm wind. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2008LightningNew Rochelle$15,000Lightning struck the steeple of New Rochelle High School, causing significant damage.
July 1996LightningNew Rochelle$5,000no account filed
June 2008Thunderstorm WindNew Rochelle$2,000Multiple trees were reported down.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindNew Rochelle-Wires down at multiple locations including: North Avenue at Quaker Ridge Road, Fairview Place, and Franklin Avenue.
August 2006Thunderstorm WindNew Rochelle-no account filed
April 1999LightningNew Rochelle-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Westchester County

Maps showing this location

15 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 72000920 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Westchester CountyAll 250 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.