Its Register listing is the Southside High School. Most of Blairs was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1978. Below: maps from 1925 on.
Founding year: the first Blairs post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Blairs’ History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Blairs is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Blairs’ overall grade.
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 Blairs’ 9.4 sits near the middle of its state (54% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±1.6 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 Blairs’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Blairs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1925Danville 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 Blairs.
The story so far
Blairs, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Blairs yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Blairs is a census-designated place (CDP) in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 Census was 916, a figure which declined to 841 at the 2020 census. Chatham-Blairs is also the name of a political district in south-central Pittsylvania County.
Its first post office opened in 1927. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 916 to 841 (-8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Blairs, 1925 to 1929
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Questions about Blairs’ history
What year was Blairs founded?
The Blairs post office opened in 1927, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Blairs rank for history?
Blairs is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns. 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 Blairs?
One place: the Southside High School (listed 2020).
How old are the homes in Blairs?
1% of Blairs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1978.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
