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History · Dillwyn

Dillwyn’s post office opened in 1881, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Buckingham Training School. Below: maps from 1950 on and the census since 1920.

1881first post office
1on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Dillwyn began

When was Dillwyn founded?

1881

The Dillwyn post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 405 in 19202020 census: 436145 years
Founding year: the first Dillwyn post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Dillwyn’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 Dillwyn are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 596 in 1980; 436 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dillwyn’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Dillwyn, census by census

0100200300400500600192019401960198020002020Peak: 596

Peaked at 596 in 1980; 436 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story

How Dillwyn came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Dillwyn.

Read it all →

The Peter Francisco House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. It is located approximately nine miles east/southeast of the Town of Dillwyn.

St. Thomas Aquinas Seminary was founded as the English-speaking seminary of the Society of St. Pius the X near Dillwyn in 1973.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Dillwyn, 1881 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1881Post officeThe Dillwyn post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1920Born hereUlysses S. Washington is born here
  5. 1932BuiltBuckingham Training School is built
  6. 1950On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1980CensusPopulation peaks at 596
By decade

Dillwyn, decade by decade

Today5 recent
The Price is Right2020The Price is RightFormer Buckingham Training School2017Former Buckingham Training SchoolBBRR4 Dillwyn WJGrimes2007BBRR4 Dillwyn WJGrimesBBRR1GP7DillwynVa2006BBRR1GP7DillwynVaBuckingham Branch Railroad GP16 rebuild2005Buckingham Branch Railroad GP16 rebuild
On the map

Dillwyn on the map, 1950 to 1987

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

Dillwyn on the 1950 USGS mapDillwyn on the 1968 USGS mapDillwyn on the 1987 USGS map1950Dillwyn 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 Dillwyn.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Dillwyn

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
2015
Buckingham Training School
Buckingham Training School, built 1932
Buildings
Buckingham Training SchoolBuilt 1932

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

Questions about Dillwyn’s history

What year was Dillwyn founded?

The Dillwyn post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Dillwyn?

One place: the Buckingham Training School (listed 2015).

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). How TownRatings grades history →

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.