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History · Dinwiddie

Dinwiddie’s post office opened in 1897, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Dinwiddie County Courthouse. Below: 5 old photos and papers from 1818 on.

1897first post office
1on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Dinwiddie’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Dinwiddie began

When was Dinwiddie founded?

1897

The Dinwiddie post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Dinwiddie Courthouse (1807), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 619129 years
Founding year: the first Dinwiddie post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
The story

How Dinwiddie came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Dinwiddie.

Read it all →

The community was the site of the Battle of Dinwiddie Court House, the Battle of Five Forks as well as the Battle of Sutherland's Station during the Appomattox Campaign.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Dinwiddie, 1807 to 1951

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1807Post officeThe Dinwiddie Courthouse post office opens
  3. 1818In the archiveCorrect Map of Dinwiddie County
  4. 1897Post officeThe Dinwiddie Courthouse post office closes
  5. 1897Post officeThe Dinwiddie post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1919In the archiveFMIB 34849 Habitat of the Cricket Frog; a Shallow Grassy and Seedy Meadow Pool
  8. 1933In the archiveBurnt Quarter, State Route 613 vicinity
  9. 1951Born hereGeorge Ragsdale is born here
By decade

Dinwiddie, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1810s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1810s1 item
Correct Map of Dinwiddie County1818Correct Map of Dinwiddie CountyMap
1910s–1930s4 items
FMIB 34849 Habitat of the Cricket Frog; a Shallow Grassy and Seedy Meadow Pool1919FMIB 34849 Habitat of the Cricket Frog; a Shallow Gra…Burnt Quarter, State Route 613 vicinity1933Burnt Quarter, State Route 613 vicinityKingston, State Route 619 vicinity1933Kingston, State Route 619 vicinityKingston, State Route 619 vicinity1933Kingston, State Route 619 vicinity
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today1 recent
VAMap-doton-Dinwiddie2005VAMap-doton-Dinwiddie
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.

FMIB 34849 Habitat of the Cricket Frog; a Shallow Grassy and Seedy Meadow Pool
Retake this viewFMIB 34849 Habitat of the Cricket Frog; a Shallow Grassy and Seedy Meadow Pool, 1919

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Dinwiddie

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
1973
Dinwiddie County Courthouse
Dinwiddie County Courthouse
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
Dinwiddie County CourthouseGreek Revival

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

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Dinwiddie’s post office has been open since 1897. Another post office, Dinwiddie Courthouse, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Dinwiddie Courthouse
1807–1897
Dinwiddie
1897–today
18001910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BonnevilleConfederate Woods

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

Help out

Finish Dinwiddie’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 viewFMIB 34849 Habitat of the Cricket Frog;…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Dinwiddie’s history

What year was Dinwiddie founded?

The Dinwiddie post office opened in 1897, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Dinwiddie?

One place: the Dinwiddie County Courthouse (listed 1973).

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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.