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History · White Plains

White Plains’ post office opened in 1877

Most of White Plains was built recently: 7% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1971.

1877first post office
0on the National Register
7%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How White Plains began

When was White Plains founded?

1877

The White Plains post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 1,025149 years
Founding year: the first White Plains post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about White Plains’ 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 White Plains are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start White Plains’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how White Plains’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

White Plains, in brief

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

White Plains is a census-designated place (CDP) in Surry County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, White Plains had a population of 1,025.

Its first post office opened in 1877. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,074 to 1,025 (-5%).

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

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.
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Famous people

Famous people close to White Plains

Nobody well known was born in White Plains 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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

White Plains had its own post office from 1877 to 1959.

White Plains
1877–1959
18701950today
Gone or out of use
White Plains High Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside White Plains
White Plains Baptist ChurchWhite Plains Friends Meeting

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.

Mount Airy12 historic placesA

Questions about White Plains’ history

What year was White Plains founded?

The White Plains post office opened in 1877, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 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.