Most of Clintwood was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Its Register listing is the Dickenson County Courthouse. Below: maps from 1913 on and the census since 1900.
The Clintwood post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Holly Creek (1870) and Georges Fork (1907), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 255 in 19002020 census: 1,377146 years
How historic is Clintwood?
C
More historic than 35% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Clintwood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Clintwood’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clintwood is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Clintwood’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 Clintwood’s 7.1 sits near the middle of its state (51% 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 C to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.8 points). 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 Clintwood’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Clintwood, Virginia was founded in 1829 by John "Holly Creek John" Mullins. In June 1948, the town of Clintwood elected an all-female town council for the period from 1948 to 1950. The "Petticoat Government", as it was nicknamed, implemented change in many areas, including cleanup of the town, eliminating parking problems, organizing a systematic garbage disposal system, eliminating several traffic hazards, organizing the town's fire department, and purchasing a fire truck. The "Petticoat Government" received the attention of Lady Astor, a Virginia-born member of the British Parliament who expressed a desire to visit Clintwood to see how the experiment was going. The town was also featured in broadcasts by the Voice of America.
The Clintwood post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Clintwood rank for history?
Clintwood is more historic than 35% 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 Clintwood?
One place: the Dickenson County Courthouse (listed 1982).
How old are the homes in Clintwood?
6% of Clintwood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 (5), 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.
2020
2020
2020
2020
2005