Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 1910.
The Virginia post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name.
Virginia was named for Virginia Lewis, the daughter of a pioneer settler.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Virginia’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Virginia.
Virginia was platted in 1887 when the railroad was extended to that point. It was named for Virginia Lewis, the daughter of a pioneer settler.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Virginia, cut from the printed page as they were published.
After the family removal to Gage county Allen M. Darwin, then a lad of about eleven years, attended the public schools in the village of Virginia, and thereafter he continued his active association with farming until he was twentyfour years of age. In 1911 he leased the grain elevator at Virginia, and in this connection he has since controlled a sub-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
to special recognition in this history. He is associated with his father in the ownership and conducting of the Citizens' State Bank of Virginia, of which he is cashier, and he is numbered among the popular and representative business men of the younger generation in the vital little town of Virginia.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Virginia. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Virginia.
Between 60 and 157 people in every census since 1910.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Virginia’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Virginia itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Virginia had its own post office from 1887 to 1984.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Virginia post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (5), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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