Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Bailey's Crossroads

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
DHistory
History · Bailey's Crossroads

Bailey's Crossroads’ post office opened in 1879

More historic than 14% of U.S. towns · #172 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it

Most of Bailey's Crossroads was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: 4 old photos and papers, maps from 1900 on, and the census since 1970.

1879first post office
0on the National Register
1%homes built before 1940
4old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Bailey's Crossroads’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Bailey's Crossroads began

When was Bailey's Crossroads founded?

1879

The Bailey's Crossroads post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Bailey's Cross Roads (1879), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 7,295 in 19702020 census: 24,749147 years

How historic is Bailey's Crossroads?

D

More historic than 14% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Bailey's Crossroads post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Bailey's Crossroads’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bailey's Crossroads is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #172 of 253 in Virginia. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bailey's Crossroads’ overall grade.
Founding era1879, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19401.4% of homes (±0.7) · typical VA town 1.9% · U.S. 8.4%DNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical VA town 3.6 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 14%
NewerOlder
Virginia towns of 2,500+ (253)Ahead of 32%

Virginia towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Virginia town has 3.6 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bailey's Crossroads’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (17% of Virginia 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 C−. The pre-1940 share (±0.7 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 Bailey's Crossroads’ past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 4 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19006 editions of the USGS map, 1900 to 1984. Watch Bailey's Crossroads change.Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Bailey's Crossroads, and 6 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bailey's Crossroads’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bailey's Crossroads’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBailey's Cross Roads, Va: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Bailey's Crossroads on the map, 1900 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bailey's Crossroads. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Bailey's Crossroads on the 1900 USGS mapBailey's Crossroads on the 1945 USGS mapBailey's Crossroads on the 1951 USGS mapBailey's Crossroads on the 1965 USGS mapBailey's Crossroads on the 1971 USGS mapBailey's Crossroads on the 1984 USGS map1900Washington sheet · 1:62,500

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Bailey's Cross Roads, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Baileys CrossroadsCourtland ParkCulmoreDowden TerraceGlen ForestSunset Manor
Gone or out of use
Washington-Virginia Airportairport
1cemetery inside Bailey's Crossroads
Unnamed Cemetery - Dowden Terrace

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Bailey's Crossroads came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bailey's Crossroads.

Read it all →

Hachaliah Bailey, the founder of one of America's earliest circuses, which in time evolved into the Bailey component of what became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, moved to Northern Virginia in 1837, bought the land surrounding the intersection of Leesburg Pike and Columbia Pike in Fairfax County, near Falls Church, and gave Bailey's Crossroads his name. The Crossroads then became the winter quarters for his circus.

Chapters19th century20th century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Bailey's Crossroads, 1861 to 1906

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1861In the archiveBailey's Cross Roads, Va
  3. 1879Post officeThe Bailey's Cross Roads post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1900On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 1906Post officeThe Bailey's Cross Roads post office closes
By decade

Bailey's Crossroads, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s4 items
Bailey's Cross Roads, Va1861Bailey's Cross Roads, VaSutler cart. at Baileys Cross roads1861Sutler cart. at Baileys Cross roadsMcClellan reviewing his troops near Baileys Cross Roads1861McClellan reviewing his troops near Baileys Cross Roa…McClellan reviewing his troops near Baileys Cross Roads1861McClellan reviewing his troops near Baileys Cross Roa…
Today2 recent
2016-10-23 15 27 35 View west along Virginia State Route 7 (Leesburg Pike) at Virginia State Route 244 (Columbia Pike) …20162016-10-23 15 27 35 View west along Virginia State Ro…Baileys xroads marker2004Baileys xroads marker
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Bailey's Cross Roads, Va
Retake this viewBailey's Cross Roads, Va, 1861

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bailey's Crossroads’ page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Bailey's Crossroads, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,00019802000202024,749

Grew from 7,295 people in 1970 to 24,749 in 2020, 3 times over.

6 censuses, 1970–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bailey's Crossroads’ Wikipedia page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Bailey's Crossroads

Nobody well known was born in Bailey's Crossroads itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Al GoreVice President of the United States from 1993 t… · b. 1948
Sandra BullockAmerican actress and film producer · b. 1964
Samuel L. JacksonAmerican actor · b. 1948
Jennifer DoudnaAmerican biochemist · b. 1964
Dermot MulroneyAmerican actor · b. 1963
K
Katie CouricAmerican journalist, presenter, producer, and a… · b. 1957
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Lincolnia1 historic placeC−Lake BarcroftIts storyDAlexandria45 historic placesAArlington62 historic placesA−Seven Corners2 historic placesC+

Questions about Bailey's Crossroads’ history

What year was Bailey's Crossroads founded?

The Bailey's Crossroads post office opened in 1879, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Bailey's Crossroads rank for history?

Bailey's Crossroads is more historic than 14% of U.S. towns, #172 of 253 in Virginia. 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 Bailey's Crossroads?

1% of Bailey's Crossroads’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1976.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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 (2), the Library of Congress (4), 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.