More historic than 13% of U.S. towns · #301 of 638 in Florida. What drives it
Most of Valrico was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1996. Below: maps from 1955 on and the census since 2000.
Founding year: the first Valrico post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Valrico’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Valrico is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns, #301 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 Valrico’s overall grade.
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 Valrico’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.
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. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Valrico’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Before the Civil War, the area was known as Long Pond and consisted of several cotton plantations. It was renamed Valrico, meaning "rich valley" in Spanish, in the 1880s when William G. Tousey, a philosophy professor from Tufts College, purchased property in the area. In 1890, an influx of immigrants arrived, following the construction of the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad through the area.
Passages that mention Valrico, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Hillsborough County, Florida1928 · page 74Read the page →
Read the text
One old tree, said to be a full one hundred years of age, and still bearing fruit is in the Phipps grove, having withstood the “freezes” that other trees failed to escape. Forty-five feet high, and 45 feet in spread, seven and one-half feet around the trunk, it stands as sturdy and as fine as the town of Valrico itself. SPRINGHEAD. Previous to 1845, this part of Florida was not unlike the remainder of the state, practically an unknown wilderness. From the time of its first admittance to the Union in 1845 until 1865 when it was readmitted following the Civil War, con-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Hillsborough County, Florida1928 · page 73Read the page →
Read the text
Townsites were not entirely unknown in those days. Even then such occurrences as “booms” played their part in Florida. Much of St. Andrews Bay had been sold, the lots being literally between high and low tide. A village site had been laid out for Valrico by Prof. Tousey and plats printed for distribution. These, however, were never used. North of the Watt’s property, the northwest boundary of Valrico, was New Elgin, a boom town which failed dismally except as it furnished work for the abstract companies. The freeze of 1895 put an end to this chapter of the history of Valrico. The nursery was abandoned and the Tousey
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
Valrico, 1890 to 1994
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Valrico post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Valrico rank for history?
Valrico is more historic than 13% of U.S. towns, #301 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 Valrico?
0.0% of Valrico’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 0.6% for a Florida town; the median home was built in 1996.
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 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.
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