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B−History
History · Chester

Chester dates to 1749, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 49% of U.S. towns · #92 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it

Most of Chester was built recently: 0.2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1990. Its Register listing is the Chester Presbyterian Church. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1960.

1749founded
1on the National Register
0.2%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
4famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Chester’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Chester began

When was Chester founded?

1749

Chester dates its founding to 1749 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1960.

First census: 1,290 in 19602020 census: 23,414277 years

How historic is Chester?

B−

More historic than 49% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1858.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Chester’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chester is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns, #92 of 253 in Virginia. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Chester’s overall grade.
Founding era1749, from Wikidata: founded before 1776, an older era than 96% of U.S. townsA+Homes built before 19400.2% of homes (±0.3) · typical VA town 1.9% · U.S. 8.4%DNational Register1 listing, 0.4 per 10,000 residents · typical VA town 3.6 · U.S. 2.4C+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 49%
NewerOlder
Virginia towns of 2,500+ (253)Ahead of 64%

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 Chester’s 0.4 sits near the middle of its state (36% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1749.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to A−. The pre-1940 share (±0.3 points) is firm at this size.

Founding year: Wikidata (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 Chester’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages12 hamlets and corners are still on the map.On the map since 18947 editions of the USGS map, 1894 to 1994. Watch Chester change.Older than the countryEstablished in 1749, 27 years before the Declaration of Independence.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Chester’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Chester’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewChester, Virginia Station on the Seaboa…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Chester’s post office has been open since 1858.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Bryan RidgeChesterbrook FarmsColumbia ParkDutch GapGay FarmsGreenleigh Mobile Home ParkGrove PlaceHidden Valley EstatesLakewood EstatesLora Lynn HeightsMistwood ForestVictoria Hills
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Chester
Old LanePerdue FamilySunset Memorial Park

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

On the map

Chester on the map, 1894 to 1994

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

Chester on the 1894 USGS mapChester on the 1944 USGS mapChester on the 1952 USGS mapChester on the 1969 USGS mapChester on the 1974 USGS mapChester on the 1981 USGS mapChester on the 1994 USGS map1894Bermuda Hundred 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 Chester.

The story

How Chester came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Chester.

Read it all →

Chester's original "downtown" was a stop which was an intersection of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, running north to south, and the Clover Hill Railroad, which became the Brighthope Railway, then the Farmville and Powhatan Railroad. In 1900, when the Richmond and Petersburg merged with the Atlantic Coast Line, that new railroad intersected the same east west railroad which became the Tidewater and Western Railroad in 1905.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Chester, 1749 to 1996

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

  1. 18th century
  2. 1749
    FoundingChester is established
  3. 19th century
  4. 1858Post officeThe Chester post office opens
  5. 1878Born hereWillis C. Pulliam is born here
  6. 1894On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 20th century
  8. 1914In the archiveChester, Virginia Station on the Seaboard Air Line 1914
  9. 1918Born hereWilliam Trueheart is born here
  10. 1995Born hereC. J. Reavis is born here
  11. 1996Born hereNate Eaton is born here
By decade

Chester, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s1 item
Chester, Virginia Station on the Seaboard Air Line 1914c. 1914Chester, Virginia Station on the Seaboard Air Line 19…
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today29 recent
Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86562015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8656Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86552015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8655Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86542015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8654Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86532015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8653Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86502015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8650Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86482015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8648Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86472015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8647Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86462015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8646Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86452015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8645Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86442015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8644Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86432015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8643Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86422015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8642Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86412015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8641Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86372015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8637Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86362015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8636Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86352015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8635Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86342015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8634Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86322015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8632Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86302015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8630Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86292015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8629Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86282015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8628Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 86172015Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 8617Blue Heron Coal Ash Power Discharge Canal Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 87102015Blue Heron Coal Ash Power Discharge Canal Dutch Gap C…Blue Heron Coal Ash Power Discharge Canal Dutch Gap Conservation Area Chester VA 87092015Blue Heron Coal Ash Power Discharge Canal Dutch Gap C…US Route 301 - Virginia (8117257380) (2)2012US Route 301 - Virginia (8117257380) (2)US Route 301 - Virginia (8117254744) (2)2012US Route 301 - Virginia (8117254744) (2)US Route 301 - Virginia (8117245919) (2)2012US Route 301 - Virginia (8117245919) (2)US Route 301 - Virginia (8117245575) (2)2012US Route 301 - Virginia (8117245575) (2)Interstate 95 - Virginia2011Interstate 95 - Virginia
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.

Chester, Virginia Station on the Seaboard Air Line 1914
Retake this viewChester, Virginia Station on the Seaboard Air Line 1914, c. 1914

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Chester

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1976
Chester Presbyterian Church
Chester Presbyterian Church
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Gothic Revival1
Chester Presbyterian ChurchGothic Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Chester, census by census

05,00010,00015,00020,00025,000196019802000202023,414

Grew from 1,290 people in 1960 to 23,414 in 2020, more than tenfold.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

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

Famous people

4 famous people were born in Chester

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Nate EatonAmerican baseball player · b. 1996
W
William TrueheartAmerican diplomat · b. 1918
C
C. J. ReavisAmerican football player · b. 1995
Willis C. PulliamAmerican politician · b. 1878
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Bellwood2 historic placesC+

Questions about Chester’s history

What year was Chester founded?

In 1749, according to Wikidata. Chester’s post office opened in 1858, and the census of 1960 counted 1,290 people here.

How does Chester rank for history?

Chester is more historic than 49% of U.S. towns, #92 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 Chester?

One place: the Chester Presbyterian Church (listed 1976).

How old are the homes in Chester?

0.2% of Chester’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1990.

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 (30), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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.