The story
Read it all →How Long View came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Long View.
Originally known as "Penelope," Long View was incorporated in 1907.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
B−History
History · Long View
12% of Long View’s homes were built before 1940
More historic than 50% of U.S. towns · #134 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Propst House. Below: maps from 1895 on and the census since 1910.
1on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
About Long View’s history
How historic is Long View?
B−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
History grade
What drives Long View’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Long View is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #134 of 290 in North Carolina. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Long View’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194012.3% of homes (±6.2) · typical NC town 4.1% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register1 listing, 2.0 per 10,000 residents · typical NC town 12.5 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 50%
NewerOlder
North Carolina towns of 2,500+ (290)Ahead of 54%
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 Long View’s 2.0 sits near the middle of its state (41% of North Carolina towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.2 points).
Founding year: our sources. 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 Long View’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 Long View’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Long View’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.On the map
Long View on the map, 1895 to 1993
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Long View. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1895Hickory sheet · 1:125,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Long View.
Timeline
Long View, 1888 to 1904
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1888Post officeThe Penelope post office opens
- 1895
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey - 20th century
- 1904Post officeThe Penelope post office closes
By decade
Long View, decade by decade
2021
2021
2021On the National Register
1 historic place in Long View
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
Propst House
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Second Empire1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Long View, census by census
Grew from 243 people in 1910 to 5,088 in 2020, more than tenfold.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Long View’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Long View
Nobody well known was born in Long View itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and burying grounds
Another post office, Penelope, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Hamlets and corners on the map
LongviewPenelope
1cemetery inside Long View
Bethel
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Long View’s history
How does Long View rank for history?
Long View is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns, #134 of 290 in North Carolina. 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 Long View?
One place: the Propst House (listed 1973).
How old are the homes in Long View?
12% of Long View’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.2 points), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 1970.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.