Most of Horse Pasture was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1970. Below: 1 old photo or paper and maps from 1926 on.
Founding year: the first Horse Pasture post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Horse Pasture’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Horse Pasture is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Horse Pasture’s 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 Horse Pasture’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (17% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±4.8 points). 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 Horse Pasture’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Horse Pasture yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Horsepasture is a census-designated place (CDP) in Henry County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,227 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Martinsville Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Its first post office opened in 1833. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 2,227 to 2,058 (-8%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Horse Pasture. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1926Martinsville 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 Horse Pasture.
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.
Retake this viewHorsepasture Store, U.S. Route 58 & State Route 687
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Horse Pasture’s page.
Horse Pasture had its own post office from 1833 to 1906.
Horse Pasture
1833–1906
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Grassy CreekLakewood Forest
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Horse Pasture’s history
What year was Horse Pasture founded?
The Horse Pasture post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Horse Pasture rank for history?
Horse Pasture is more historic than 38% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Horse Pasture?
5% of Horse Pasture’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.8 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1970.
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 the Library of Congress (1), 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.
Date?
