More historic than 14% of U.S. towns · #294 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of Riverview was built recently: 0.1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2006. Below: maps from 1921 on and the census since 1970.
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1879.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Riverview’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Riverview is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #294 of 638 in Florida. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Riverview’s overall grade.
Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Riverview ranks #374 on History.
Few Florida towns list much on the Register (a typical Florida town has 0.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Riverview’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (33% of Florida towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
Newer cities are common at Riverview’s size: in the typical U.S. city of 100,000 or more, 5% of homes predate 1940.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. The pre-1940 share (±0.1 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1885.
Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). 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 →
What stands out about Riverview’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Riverview’s post office has been open since 1891. Another post office, Peru, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Peru
1879–1900
Riverview
1891–today
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Aberdeen CreekAlafia CoveAlafia OaksAlafia River Country MeadowsAvelar Creek SouthBell Creek Hammocks NorthBloomingdale RidgeBloomingdale TrailsBoyette CreekBoyette FarmsBoyette SpringsBullfrog AcresCapitano CoveCarmans Casa del RioCarverwoodsChancey FarmsChrysopsis FloridanaClubhouse Estates at SummerfieldColonial HillsCorlettsCountryside VillageCovewoodCowley CoveCreek View
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Riverview
HackneySamford
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out
Start Riverview’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Riverview’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Riverview was founded in 1885 on the Alafia River's north shore. However, in the 1830s settlers arrived on the south side of the river at an area formerly known as Peru (pronounced "Pe-Roo") because Peru was an indigenous name for "straight part of the river". Peru existed for nearly 100 years and was one of the oldest settlements in central Florida. It wasn't until the 1940s that Riverview absorbed Peru, and now claims the south side of the Alafia River. The Peruvian Mining Company, which mined phosphate from the Alafia, took its name from the settlement. The term "Alafia" is translated as "River of Fire" due to the phosphorus on the early riverbottom glowing at night.
Passages that mention Riverview, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Hillsborough County, Florida1928 · page 72Read the page →
Read the text
planet, is a group of nine towns, Valrico, Springfield, Trapnell, Brandon, Coronet, Seffner, Lillibridge, Riverview and Turkey Creek. Of these, Coronet, residential colony for the Coronet Phosphate Company, is the most recent settlement, mining operations not having commenced there until 1909.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Hillsborough County, Florida1928 · page 201Read the page →
Read the text
Mr. Burnett received his education in the country schools of Hillsborough County, and engaged in the farming and stock-raising business with his father until he was twenty-six years old. He then opened a general store at Riverview, which he maintained for several years, until he moved to Tampa in 1906. He was elected County Tax Collector in 1920, and had the distinction of being re-elected in 1924 without opposition. The growth of this office, and the amount of taxes collected at the present time compared to 1920, when he first took office, are good indices to the growth of Hillsboro County during the past eight
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.
Timeline
Riverview, 1879 to 1986
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1885, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Riverview’s post office opened in 1879, and the census of 1970 counted 2,225 people here.
How does Riverview rank for history?
Riverview is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #294 of 638 in Florida. 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.
How old are the homes in Riverview?
0.1% of Riverview’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 2006.
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 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.
