Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1883.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Bluefield’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bluefield is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #59 of 253 in Virginia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bluefield’s 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 Bluefield’s 92.4 sits above most of its state (72% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 46 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1884.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.9 points).
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Bluefield’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Bluefield has not always borne the name Bluefield. The town developed around a small post office named "Pin Hook" in the 1860s, named for a small creek that ran through the community. For a brief time it was known as the community of Harman, named after a Civil War hero from the area who had been shot during the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain in Pulaski County, Virginia.
Passages that mention Bluefield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Tazewell county and southwest Virginia, 1748-19201920 · page 560Read the page →
Read the text
Bluefield is bountifully supjDlied with banking capital, does a large amount of business in the mercantile and manufacturing lines, is rapidly increasing its population, and is constantly extending its improved (building) area toward the line which separates Tazewell County from West Virginia. In fact, the improved limits of Bluefield and those of Graham (Tazewell's largest town) are now nearly united, and may, in the near future, be called the "Twin- Cities." Bluefield is not only the metropolis of the Pocahontas,
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.
Timeline
Bluefield, 1883 to 1987
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Bluefield’s post office has been open since 1924. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Graham
1883–1924
West Graham
1913–1956
Bluefield
1924–today
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
West Graham
Gone or out of use
Saint Clair SchoolschoolTazewell County High Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Bluefield
Maple Hill
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Bluefield’s history
What year was Bluefield founded?
In 1884, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Bluefield’s post office opened in 1883, and the census of 1890 counted 1,021 people here.
How does Bluefield rank for history?
Bluefield is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns, #59 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.
What is on the National Register in Bluefield?
Three places: the Alexander St. Clair House (listed 1982), the Walter McDonald Sanders House (2002) and the Bluefield Commercial Historic District (2024).
How old are the homes in Bluefield?
19% of Bluefield’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1961.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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