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History · Elliston

Elliston’s post office opened in 1891, and 13% of its homes were built before 1940

4 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 3 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1950 on.

1891first post office
4on the National Register
13%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Elliston’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Elliston began

When was Elliston founded?

1891

The Elliston post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Carnegie City (1890), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 855135 years
Founding year: the first Elliston post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Elliston’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Landmarks on the Register4 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Elliston’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Elliston’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 viewFotheringay, U.S. Route 11 vicinity: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

4 historic places in Elliston

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

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
7
each building in a district counts
first listed
1989
Barnett House
Barnett HouseBig Spring Baptist ChurchPompey Callaway House
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Single-Pile Center-Passage Plan2
Colonial Revival1
Nave Plan1
Hall-Parlor Plan1
Barnett HouseSingle-Pile Center-Passage Plan
Big Spring Baptist ChurchNave Plan
Pompey Callaway HouseSingle-Pile Center-Passage Plan
Madison Farm Historic and Archeological DistrictHall-Parlor Plan

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

The story so far

Elliston, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Elliston yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Elliston is a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States. It lies between the city of Roanoke and the town of Christiansburg in the southwestern part of the state. As of the 2020 census, Elliston had a population of 855. It is home to a small fire department, an elementary school, two gas stations, a train stop, and several churches. Most of its residents commute to larger towns. A set of railroad tracks separates the northwestern part of the town from the rest. US highway 11-460 further divides the town into two distinct neighborhoods, "Oldtown," which formed along the Valley Road in the 1850s, and "The Brake," a predominantly African-American area that dev…

Its first post office opened in 1891. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 902 to 855 (-5%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Elliston, 1890 to 1950

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Carnegie City post office opens
  3. 1891Post officeThe Carnegie City post office closes
  4. 1891Post officeThe Elliston post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1950On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Elliston, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Fotheringay, U.S. Route 11 vicinityDate?Fotheringay, U.S. Route 11 vicinity
Today7 recent
2021-09-17 Fotheringay Estate20212021-09-17 Fotheringay EstateFalls Ridge Preserve2013Falls Ridge PreserveIntermodal2011IntermodalUnique Crossing Signal2010Unique Crossing SignalUnique Crossing Signal2010Unique Crossing SignalPrivate Crossing Signal2010Private Crossing SignalEllistonVirginia2008EllistonVirginia
On the map

Elliston on the map, 1950 to 1972

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

Elliston on the 1950 USGS mapElliston on the 1963 USGS mapElliston on the 1972 USGS map1950Elliston 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 Elliston.

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.

Fotheringay, U.S. Route 11 vicinity
Retake this viewFotheringay, U.S. Route 11 vicinity

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

Retake this view · +15
Famous people

Famous people close to Elliston

Nobody well known was born in Elliston itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
John C. MatherAmerican astrophysicist and cosmologist · b. 1946
Henrietta LacksAmerican woman whose cancer cells are the sourc… · b. 1920
Henry KingAmerican film director · b. 1886
John PayneAmerican actor · b. 1912
David HuddlestonAmerican actor · b. 1930
Lynn BariAmerican actress · b. 1913
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Elliston’s post office has been open since 1891. Another post office, Carnegie City, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Carnegie City
1890–1891
Elliston
1891–today
18901960today

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Lafayette1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Elliston’s history

What year was Elliston founded?

The Elliston post office opened in 1891, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Elliston?

4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Barnett House (listed 1989, the first), and 1 historic district, the Madison Farm Historic and Archeological District, with 3 contributing buildings. 7 historic buildings in all.

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 (7), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.