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History · Smithfield

Smithfield’s post office opened in 1851, and 44% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 4 buildings.

1851first post office
1on the National Register
44%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Smithfield began

When was Smithfield founded?

1851

The Smithfield post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 124175 years
Founding year: the first Smithfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
On the National Register

1 listing protects 4 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
2010
Callaway-Goodridge-Robertson Farm
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Early Republic1
Federal1
Late Victorian1
Italianate1
Late 19th and 20th Century Revivals1
Colonial Revival1
All 1 listings
Callaway-Goodridge-Robertson FarmDistrict · listed 2010

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Smithfield’s post office has been open since 1851.

Gone or out of use
Smithfield CollegeschoolSmithfield Railroad Stationlocale

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Smithfield’s history

What year was Smithfield founded?

The Smithfield post office opened in 1851, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Smithfield?

One place: the Callaway-Goodridge-Robertson Farm (listed 2010).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.