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History · Craigsville

Craigsville’s post office opened in 1854, and 28% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Craigsville School. Below: maps from 1943 on and the census since 1880.

1854first post office
1on the National Register
28%homes built before 1940
1famous people
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Quick answers

How Craigsville began

When was Craigsville founded?

1854

The Craigsville post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 117 in 18802020 census: 899172 years
Founding year: the first Craigsville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Craigsville’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Craigsville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Craigsville’s homes were built before 1958.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Craigsville’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story

How Craigsville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Craigsville.

Read it all →

The Craigsville School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

The history of Craigsville can be traced back to 1721 when a Scotch-Irish couple, William and Jeanette Craig, Scottish immigrants, received a land grant from the government for the purpose of farming. They were the first settlers on the land, which eventually came to be named for them. The area grew, however remaining a farming community from 1721 to the 1850s.

Mr. & Mrs. Craig raised a family which consisted of two (2) sons, Robert and James. Mr. Craig gave his sons the farm, dividing it equally between them. Robert inherited the eastern half while James inherited the western half.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Craigsville in 1882

Passages that mention Craigsville, cut from the printed page as they were published.

steam-mill, the steam distillery. Confederate Government workshops, the stables and house used for storing forage, the stables of Trotter and twentysix coaches, the railway stations, etc. The railway track was destroyed at intervals to Goshen, with the fine bridges at Swoope's, Craigsville, and Gos…
History of Augusta County, Virginia1882 · page 237Read the page →
Read the text

steam-mill, the steam distillery. Confederate Government workshops, the stables and house used for storing forage, the stables of Trotter and twentysix coaches, the railway stations, etc. The railway track was destroyed at intervals to Goshen, with the fine bridges at Swoope's, Craigsville, and Goshen— also the culverts and small bridges East of Staunton they tore up the track to Christian's Creek, bending the rails, and burning the bridges at the creek and at Fishersville. They broke open and plundered the shops

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Craigsville is situated on the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, about 23 miles west of Staunton, and is noted for its valuable marble quarries. It contains a population of 117 souls, two stores and a smithy.
History of Augusta County, Virginia1882 · page 267Read the page →
Read the text

Craigsville is situated on the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, about 23 miles west of Staunton, and is noted for its valuable marble quarries. It contains a population of 117 souls, two stores and a smithy.

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

Craigsville, 1854 to 1957

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854Post officeThe Craigsville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1943On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1957Born hereTony Schiavone is born here
By decade

Craigsville, decade by decade

Today12 recent
N&W J No. 611 Railroad Avenue2023N&W J No. 611 Railroad AvenueCraigsville Southern Baptist Church2017Craigsville Southern Baptist ChurchCraigsville School from south2017Craigsville School from southCraigsville, Virginia - panoramio - Idawriter (1)2016Craigsville, Virginia - panoramio - Idawriter (1)Craigsville, VA 24430, USA - panoramio - Idawriter2016Craigsville, VA 24430, USA - panoramio - IdawriterCraigsville Tastee Freez2016Craigsville Tastee FreezBG's Restaurant2016BG's RestaurantPink Trillium - Flickr - treegrow2010Pink Trillium - Flickr - treegrowPink Trillium - Flickr - treegrow (1)2010Pink Trillium - Flickr - treegrow (1)Meadow Violet - Flickr - treegrow2010Meadow Violet - Flickr - treegrowMeadow Fritillary - Flickr - treegrow2010Meadow Fritillary - Flickr - treegrowMeadow Fritillary - Flickr - treegrow (1)2010Meadow Fritillary - Flickr - treegrow (1)
On the map

Craigsville on the map, 1943 to 1978

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

Craigsville on the 1943 USGS mapCraigsville on the 1967 USGS mapCraigsville on the 1978 USGS map1943Craigsville 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 Craigsville.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Craigsville

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
1985
Craigsville School
Craigsville School
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Colonial Revival1
Vernacular1
Craigsville SchoolColonial Revival

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

People over time

Craigsville, census by census

02004006008001,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 988

Between 117 and 988 people in every census since 1880.

8 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Questions about Craigsville’s history

What year was Craigsville founded?

The Craigsville post office opened in 1854, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Craigsville?

One place: the Craigsville School (listed 1985).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (12), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.