Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Famartin · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 4% of U.S. towns · #212 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it
Most of Bull Run was built recently: 0.6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1994. Below: 16 old photos and papers and maps from 1933 on.
More historic than 4% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bull Run is more historic than 4% of U.S. towns, #212 of 253 in Virginia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Bull Run’s 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.
Founding year: our sources. 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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1860s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1860Bull Run, Va. View of Bull Run
1860Bull Run, Va. View of the battlefield
1861Sutlers crossing Bull Run 61
1861Bull Run, looking upstream. Railroad bridge in distan…
1861Battlefield of Bull Run, Lewis' house
1861Monument on battlefield of Bull Run
1861Battlefield of Bull Run. Soldiers' graves
1861Battlefield of Bull Run, Matthew's house
1861Ruins of stone bridge
1861Colonel Burnside's brigade at Bull Run
1861Bull Run, near Railroad Bridge, looking down stream
1861Bird's eye view of Bull Run Bridge, looking up stream
1861Blockhouse, O and A.R.R., nr. Bull Run
1861Battlefield of Bull Run, ruins of the stone bridge
1861Railroad bridge across Bull Run. O. & A. R.R
1862Bull Run, Va. Federal cavalry at Sudley FordOld hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikipedia’s history of Bull Run.
Two major battles of the Civil War, the First Battle of Bull Run and the Second Battle of Bull Run, took place in the vicinity of Bull Run.
Ben Lomond Plantation was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveBull Run, Va. View of Bull Run
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bull Run. 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 Bull Run.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bull Run’s page.
Retake this view · +15Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Bull Run is more historic than 4% of U.S. towns, #212 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.
0.6% of Bull Run’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1994.
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).
From the Library of Congress (16), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.
