Virginia’s post office opened in 1893, and 35% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns · #7 of 273 in Minnesota. What drives it
18 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 78 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1951 on, and the census since 1900.
The Virginia post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Midway (1889), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 2,962 in 19002020 census: 8,421133 years
How historic is Virginia?
A
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Virginia post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Virginia’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Virginia is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #7 of 273 in Minnesota. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Virginia’s overall grade.
Minnesota towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Minnesota town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Virginia’s 113 sits above most of its state (97% of Minnesota towns have fewer) while its 94 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.1 points). 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 Virginia’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Virginia began as a logging settlement and experienced significant growth when the iron ore industry expanded. Orrin Day Kinney, the original owner of the land, founded the town. The site was planned in 1892 and named in honor of the home state of many local lumber workers at that time. A post office was established in Virginia in 1893. The city was incorporated in 1895. As the mining industry developed, mines in the area became highly productive, consistently breaking records for ore output by the late 1890s. The city’s main population increase started after the construction of mining camps for prominent business figures such as Andrew Carnegie, Leonidas Merritt, Jay Cooke, John D. Rockefeller, William J. Olcott, and James J. Hill. Mining operations relied on diamond drills, mules, and a large workforce to extract millions of tons of ore each year. The ore was shipped from the Twin Por…
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Virginia post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Virginia rank for history?
Virginia is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #7 of 273 in Minnesota. 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.
What is on the National Register in Virginia?
18 listings: 16 buildings, among them the Lincoln School Building (listed 1978, the first), 1 historic district, the Virginia Commercial Historic District, with 78 contributing buildings, and 1 object. 94 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Virginia?
35% of Virginia’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.1 points), against a typical 8.1% for a Minnesota town; the median home was built in 1953.
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 (1), the Library of Congress (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (18), 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) 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.
1900![Recreation bldg. [building]](https://images.townratings.com/story/8902/d982c041fc97e6990d66-s.jpg)
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