Most of Kilmarnock was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Its Register listing is the Grace Episcopal Church. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1968 on.
Founding year: the first Kilmarnock post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Kilmarnock’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Kilmarnock is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Kilmarnock’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 Kilmarnock’s 22.5 sits near the middle of its state (60% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.1 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 Kilmarnock’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The town was founded on February 1, 1650 and was called “the Crossroads”. The land where the current town stands was patented to Gervais Dodson and George Wale. Wale, however, would later becomes the sole owner of the territory.
By 1659, another protagonist in the town's history made his way within the town from England, named Anthony Steptoe. He would later claim part of Wale's patent on March 1, 1676. Later on, his grandson, William Steptoe, on 1764, sold a 2 1\2 acre parcel of today’s Kilmarnock to Robert Gilmour, who worked for a mercantile firm (Bogle, Somerville & Co.) in Glasgow, Scotland and owned a significant property in Kilmarnock, Scotland.
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.
The Kilmarnock post office opened in 1804, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Kilmarnock rank for history?
Kilmarnock is more historic than 57% 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.
What is on the National Register in Kilmarnock?
One place: the Grace Episcopal Church (listed 2017).
How old are the homes in Kilmarnock?
3% of Kilmarnock’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.1 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1985.
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 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.
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