2 of Highland Springs’ places are on the National Register
More historic than 75% of U.S. towns · #47 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it
Most of Highland Springs was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: maps from 1894 on and the census since 1950.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Highland Springs is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #47 of 253 in Virginia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Highland Springs’ overall grade.
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 Highland Springs’ 712 sits above most of its state (94% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 1,018 historic buildings outnumber those of 99% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share (±2.3 points) is firm at this size.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Highland Springs’ past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Highland Springs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1894Richmond 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 Highland Springs.
Edmund Sewell Read founded the community of Highland Springs in the 1890s as a streetcar suburb of Richmond on the Seven Pines Railway Company's electric street railway line between the city and the Seven Pines National Cemetery. There, many Union dead were interred, primarily as a result of battles nearby during the Civil War (1861–1865), most notably during the Peninsula Campaign of 1862. The potential traffic of visiting families to the Richmond area from out-of-town needing transportation to and from the cemetery was a motivating factor for inception of the new street railway.
Highland Springs is more historic than 75% of U.S. towns, #47 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 Highland Springs?
Two places: the Henrico Theatre (listed 2005) and the Highland Springs Historic District (2018).
How old are the homes in Highland Springs?
6% of Highland Springs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.3 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1976.
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
