Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns. What drives it
4 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 74 buildings between them. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1880.
The Chase City post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Christiansville (1800), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chase City is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Chase City’s 312 sits above most of its state (84% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 77 historic buildings outnumber those of 88% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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 Chase City’s history is told.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Peaked at 3,207 in 1960; 2,053 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Chase City’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Chase City.
The Chase City High School, MacCallum More and Hudgins House Historic District, and Shadow Lawn are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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.
Born hereJohn Christopher Draper is born here
In the archiveMecklenburg Sanitarium ("American medical directory", 1906 advert)
Born hereJoseph R. Inge is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyOne decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
2017Hudgins House in Chase City
2017Chase City High School
2010Welcome to Chase City
2010Municipal Building
2010Gino's Italian Restaurant
2010Food Lion - panoramio (1)
2010Fire Department
2010Dollar General
2010Chase City, Virginia
2010Chase City, Virginia - panoramio (1)
2010Chase City, VA 23924, USA
2010Chase City, VA 23924, USA - panoramio (5)
2010Chase City, VA 23924, USA - panoramio (4)
2010Chase City, VA 23924, USA - panoramio (3)
2010Chase City Family Practice
2005VAMap-doton-ChaseCityEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Chase City. 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 Chase City.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1902Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
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 Chase City’s page.
Retake this view · +15Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Chase City’s post office has been open since 1873. Another post office, Christiansville, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Chase City post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Chase City is more historic than 68% 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.
4 listings: 2 buildings, among them the Shadow Lawn (listed 1982, the first), and 2 historic districts, the More, MacCallum and Hudgins House Historic District and the Chase City Warehouse and Commercial Historic District, with 74 contributing buildings. 77 historic buildings in all.
15% of Chase City’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.7 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1962.
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 Wikimedia Commons (18), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
1906
