The Hays post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Hay Meadow (1839) and Round Mountain (1878), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 1,595127 years
How historic is Hays?
D
More historic than 10% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Hays post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Hays’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hays is more historic than 10% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hays’ overall grade.
North Carolina towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical North Carolina town has 12.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Hays’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (19% of North Carolina 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 D. The pre-1940 share (±2.5 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 Hays’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hays. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1889Wilkesboro sheet · 1:125,000
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hays.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and places now gone
Hays’s post office has been open since 1899. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hay Meadow
1839–1913
Round Mountain
1878–1906
Hays
1899–today
18301930today
Gone or out of use
Piney Ridge Schoolschool
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The story so far
Hays, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Hays yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Hays is a census-designated place (CDP) in Wilkes County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 1,595 at the 2020 census. North Wilkes High School, one of Wilkes County's four public high schools, is located in Hays.
Its first post office opened in 1899. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,851 to 1,595 (-14%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Hays, 1839 to 1913
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Hays post office opened in 1899, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Hays rank for history?
Hays is more historic than 10% of U.S. towns. 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 Hays?
0.0% of Hays’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 1991.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
