Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Crozet

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
C+History
History · Crozet

Crozet’s post office opened in 1878, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 44% of U.S. towns · #100 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 217 buildings. Most of Crozet was built recently: 1% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2009. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1931 on, and the census since 2000.

1878first post office
1on the National Register
1%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Crozet’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Crozet began

When was Crozet founded?

1878

The Crozet post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 2,820 in 20002020 census: 9,224148 years

How historic is Crozet?

C+

More historic than 44% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Crozet’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Crozet is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #100 of 253 in Virginia. 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 Crozet’s overall grade.
Founding era1878, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19401.2% of homes (±1.1) · typical VA town 1.9% · U.S. 8.4%DNational Register1 listing, 217 historic buildings, 234 per 10,000 residents · typical VA town 3.6 · U.S. 2.4A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 44%
NewerOlder
Virginia towns of 2,500+ (253)Ahead of 61%

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 Crozet’s 234 sits above most of its state (80% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 217 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share (±1.1 points) is firm at this size. 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 Crozet’s past

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

A historic districtThe Crozet Historic District takes in 217 historic buildings.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages8 hamlets and corners are still on the map.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

1 listing protects 217 historic buildings

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
217
each building in a district counts
first listed
2012
Crozet Historic District
Crozet Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
Gothic Revival1
Italianate1
Queen Anne1
Victorian (Folk)1
Colonial Revival1
Crozet Historic DistrictGreek Revival

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

Help out

Start Crozet’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewBrown-Parrott House, State Route 680: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

Old corners and burying grounds

Crozet’s post office has been open since 1878.

Hamlets and corners on the map
BrookwoodBrownsvilleFoothill VillageOrchard AcresParkviewSneads Mobile Home ParkThe MeadowsWayland Park
1cemetery inside Crozet
Rock Gate

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

The story

How Crozet came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Crozet.

Read it all →

Originally called "Wayland's Crossing," it was renamed in 1870 in honor of Colonel Claudius Crozet, the French-born civil engineer who directed the construction of the Blue Ridge Tunnel. The cornerstone of Crozet is believed to have been Pleasant Green, a property also known as the Ficklin-Wayland Farm, located yards from the actual Wayland Crossing. Claudius Crozet is said to have lodged in that property while surveying the land that today honors his name.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Crozet, 1878 to 1931

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Crozet post office opens
  3. 1889Born hereStephen Early is born here
  4. 20th century
  5. 1931On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Crozet, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Brown-Parrott House, State Route 680Date?Brown-Parrott House, State Route 680
Today4 recent
Mack fire engine under railroad trestle intersection Crozet Avenue and Three Notch'd Road-SR 240 downtown Crozet VA Jun…2008Mack fire engine under railroad trestle intersection …CSX train2008CSX train$4.039 gasoline price BP station Crozet VA June 20082008$4.039 gasoline price BP station Crozet VA June 2008Crozet Volunteer Fire Company Truck2006Crozet Volunteer Fire Company Truck
On the map

Crozet on the map, 1931 to 1997

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

Crozet on the 1931 USGS mapCrozet on the 1965 USGS mapCrozet on the 1973 USGS mapCrozet on the 1987 USGS mapCrozet on the 1997 USGS map1931University 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 Crozet.

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.

Brown-Parrott House, State Route 680
Retake this viewBrown-Parrott House, State Route 680

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Crozet, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,000200020209,224

Grew from 2,820 people in 2000 to 9,224 in 2020, 3 times over.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Questions about Crozet’s history

What year was Crozet founded?

The Crozet post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Crozet rank for history?

Crozet is more historic than 44% of U.S. towns, #100 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 Crozet?

One place: the Crozet Historic District (listed 2012).

How old are the homes in Crozet?

1% of Crozet’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.1 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 2009.

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 (4), the Library of Congress (1), 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.