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C−History
History · Crimora

Crimora’s post office opened in 1904, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 23% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Crimora was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Its Register listings are the Coiner House and the Crimora School. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1934 on, and the census since 2000.

1904first post office
2on the National Register
3%homes built before 1940
18old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Crimora’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Crimora began

When was Crimora founded?

1904

The Crimora post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Sampson (1885) and Crimora Station (1887), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,796 in 20002020 census: 2,219122 years

How historic is Crimora?

C−

More historic than 23% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Crimora post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Crimora’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Crimora is more historic than 23% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Crimora’s overall grade.
Founding era1904, from the first post office: founded 1900–1944, an older era than 9% of U.S. townsDHomes built before 19402.7% of homes (±4.8) · typical VA town 1.9% · U.S. 8.4%C−National Register2 listings, 4 historic buildings, 31.9 per 10,000 residents · typical VA town 3.6 · U.S. 2.4B
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 23%
NewerOlder

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 Crimora’s 31.9 sits near the middle of its state (62% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 4 historic buildings outnumber those of 68% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.8 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 Crimora’s past

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

A town in old photos18 old photos, postcards and papers, 1968–1994.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Crimora, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · By decade

Crimora, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1960s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1960s–1990s18 items
April 1971. DETAIL OF SOUTH NAMEPLATE. - South River Pratt Through-Truss Bridge, State Route 612, spanning South River,…1968April 1971. DETAIL OF SOUTH NAMEPLATE. - South River …April 1971. GENERAL VIEW FROM SOUTH. BUILT BY CHAMPION BRIDGE CO., WILMINGTON, OHIO. - South River Pratt Through-Truss …1968April 1971. GENERAL VIEW FROM SOUTH. BUILT BY CHAMPIO…VIEW EAST OF SOUTH ABUTMENT - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over Middle River1994VIEW EAST OF SOUTH ABUTMENT - Carpenter's Ford Bridge…VIEW EAST OF WEST ELEVATION - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over Middle River1994VIEW EAST OF WEST ELEVATION - Carpenter's Ford Bridge…VIEW NORTH OF APPROACH FROM SOUTH - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over Middle River1994VIEW NORTH OF APPROACH FROM SOUTH - Carpenter's Ford …VIEW NORTH OF BRIDGE IN CONTEXT - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over Middle River1994VIEW NORTH OF BRIDGE IN CONTEXT - Carpenter's Ford Br…VIEW NORTH OF PORTAL AND DECK - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over Middle River1994VIEW NORTH OF PORTAL AND DECK - Carpenter's Ford Brid…VIEW NORTH, DETAIL OF BRIDGE PLAQUE ON PORTAL STRUT - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over Middle River, Crim…1994VIEW NORTH, DETAIL OF BRIDGE PLAQUE ON PORTAL STRUT -…VIEW NORTHWEST OF NORTH ABUTMENT - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over Middle River1994VIEW NORTHWEST OF NORTH ABUTMENT - Carpenter's Ford B…VIEW NORTHWEST, DETAIL OF LOWER CORD CONNECTION, FROM SOUTHEAST CORNER - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over…1994VIEW NORTHWEST, DETAIL OF LOWER CORD CONNECTION, FROM…VIEW NORTHWEST, DETAIL OF LOWER CORD CONNECTIONS, FROM SOUTHEAST CORNER - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, ove…1994VIEW NORTHWEST, DETAIL OF LOWER CORD CONNECTIONS, FRO…VIEW NORTHWEST, DETAIL OF UPPER CHORD CONNECTIONS, FROM SOUTHWEST CORNER - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, ov…1994VIEW NORTHWEST, DETAIL OF UPPER CHORD CONNECTIONS, FR…VIEW NORTHWEST, DETAIL OF UPPER END CONNECTION, NORTHWEST CORNER - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over Middl…1994VIEW NORTHWEST, DETAIL OF UPPER END CONNECTION, NORTH…VIEW SOUTH OF PORTAL AND DECK - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over Middle River1994VIEW SOUTH OF PORTAL AND DECK - Carpenter's Ford Brid…VIEW SOUTH OF STRINGER-BEAM SYSTEM AND SOUTH ABUTMENT - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over Middle River, Cr…1994VIEW SOUTH OF STRINGER-BEAM SYSTEM AND SOUTH ABUTMENT…VIEW SOUTHEAST OF APPROACH FROM NORTH - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over Middle River1994VIEW SOUTHEAST OF APPROACH FROM NORTH - Carpenter's F…VIEW SOUTHEAST OF BRIDGE IN CONTEXT - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over Middle River1994VIEW SOUTHEAST OF BRIDGE IN CONTEXT - Carpenter's For…VIEW WEST OF EAST ELEVATION - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over Middle River1994VIEW WEST OF EAST ELEVATION - Carpenter's Ford Bridge…
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Crimora’s post office has been open since 1904. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Sampson
1885–1910
Crimora Station
1887–1904
Crimora
1904–today
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Sampson

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

The story

How Crimora came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Crimora.

Read it all →

What put Crimora on the map was the open-pit Crimora Manganese Mine that started in 1866. The mineral manganese was used in the production of steel. Mining at Crimora continued intermittently under a series of owners until March 1946. The Crimora deposit is about 500 feet wide, 200 feet deep, and half a mile long and consists of clay with scattered lumps of manganese ore. It lies under a layer of clay and quartz fragments about 15 feet thick. The Crimora deposit produced more manganese than any other single deposit in the United States and, at one time, the mining operations there were among the largest in the world.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Crimora, 1885 to 1994

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1885Post officeThe Sampson post office opens
  3. 1887Post officeThe Crimora Station post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1904Post officeThe Crimora Station post office closes
  6. 1904Post officeThe Crimora post office opens
  7. 1910Post officeThe Sampson post office closes
  8. 1934On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1968In the archiveApril 1971. DETAIL OF SOUTH NAMEPLATE. - South River Pratt Through-Truss Bridge, State Ro…
  10. 1994In the archiveVIEW EAST OF SOUTH ABUTMENT - Carpenter's Ford Bridge, State Route 775, over Middle River
On the map

Crimora on the map, 1934 to 1997

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

Crimora on the 1934 USGS mapCrimora on the 1965 USGS mapCrimora on the 1977 USGS mapCrimora on the 1987 USGS mapCrimora on the 1997 USGS map1934Waynesboro 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 Crimora.

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.

April 1971. DETAIL OF SOUTH NAMEPLATE. - South River Pratt Through-Truss Bridge, State Route 612, spanning South River,…
Retake this viewApril 1971. DETAIL OF SOUTH NAMEPLATE. - South River Pratt Through-Truss Bridge, State Route 612, spanning South River,…, 1968

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Crimora

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

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Coiner House
Coiner HouseCrimora School
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

I House1
Vernacular1
Bungalow1
Coiner HouseI House
Crimora SchoolVernacular

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

People over time

Crimora, census by census

05001,0001,5002,00020002020Peak: 2,219

Between 1,796 and 2,219 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Help out

Finish Crimora’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewApril 1971. DETAIL OF SOUTH NAMEPLATE. …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

DoomsIts storyD

Questions about Crimora’s history

What year was Crimora founded?

The Crimora post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Crimora rank for history?

Crimora is more historic than 23% 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 Crimora?

Two places: the Coiner House (listed 1978) and the Crimora School (1985).

How old are the homes in Crimora?

3% of Crimora’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1993.

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 (18), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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.