The story
Read it all →How Gaston came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Gaston.
The Gaston School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Gaston
Gaston’s post office opened in 1837, and 2 of its places are on the National Register
Most of Gaston was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Its Register listings are the Gaston School. Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1850.
1837first post office
2on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Quick answers
How Gaston began
When was Gaston founded?
1837
The Gaston post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 274 in 18502020 census: 1,008189 years
Founding year: the first Gaston post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Gaston’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Gaston’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gaston’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Gaston, census by census
Lost two-thirds of its people between 1850 and 1870, then grew more than tenfold.
10 censuses, 1850–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Gaston’s Wikipedia page.
Timeline
Gaston, 1837 to 1968
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1837Post officeThe Gaston post office opens
- 1865Post officeThe Gaston post office closes
- 20th century
- 1936
Born hereChuck Brown is born here - 1939Post officeThe Gaston post office opens
- 1950CensusPopulation peaks at 1,218
- 1953
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 1968
BuiltGaston School is built
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Gaston on the map in 1953
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Gaston.
1953Norfolk sheet · 1:250,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Gaston.
On the National Register
2 historic places in Gaston
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
3
each building in a district counts
first listed
2012
Gaston School
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Modern Movement1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices
Gaston had its own post office from 1837 to 1865.
Gaston
Gaston
18301930today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Gaston’s history
What year was Gaston founded?
The Gaston post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Gaston?
2 listings: 1 building, among them the Gaston School (listed 2012, the first). 3 historic buildings in all.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.