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History · Toast

Half of Toast’s homes were built after 1973

Most of Toast was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1973. Below: maps from 1971 on.

0on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Badagnani · CC BY-SA 3.0

What stands out about Toast’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Toast are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Toast’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Toast’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Toast, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Toast yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Toast is a census-designated place (CDP) in Surry County, North Carolina, United States, just west of Mount Airy. As of the 2020 census, Toast had a population of 1,423. A post office called Toast has been in operation since 1929. The name "Toast" was supplied by the Post Office Department. E. P. McLeod, the school principal, supposedly came up with the name while buying groceries at Hutchens Store one evening in 1927.

Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,450 in 2010, 1,423 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

Toast, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Toastnc22009Toastnc2Toastnc12009Toastnc1NCMap-doton-Toast2004NCMap-doton-Toast
On the map

Toast on the map in 1971

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Toast.

Toast on the 1971 USGS map1971Dobson sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Toast.

Famous people

Famous people close to Toast

Nobody well known was born in Toast itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Andy GriffithAmerican actor, comedian, television producer, … · b. 1926
Mo Cowan29th United States Senator from Massachusetts (… · b. 1969
M
Mary HollandAmerican actress · b. 1985
Donna FargoAmerican country singer-songwriter · b. 1945
Dickie HemricAmerican basketball player · b. 1933
Gerald L. BalilesGovernor of Virginia · b. 1940
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Mount Airy12 historic placesA

Questions about Toast’s history

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 Wikimedia Commons (3) and U.S. Geological Survey historical maps. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.