More historic than 3% of U.S. towns · #227 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it
Most of Laurel was built recently: 0.6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1982. Below: maps from 1936 on and the census since 1980.
Founding year: the first Laurel post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Laurel’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Laurel is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #227 of 253 in Virginia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Laurel’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 Laurel’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 still be D−. The pre-1940 share (±0.6 points) is firm at this size. 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 Laurel’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Laurel's previous names include Hungary; Hungary Station; Jenningsville, so named because the Jennings family, who were large landholders and have a family gravesite at the site of the historic district; and School. In the 19th century, Laurel was a stop on the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) Railroad. It was a spur line that connected the coalfields in western Henrico with the rail network. During the Civil War, the station was burned. Union Army Colonel Ulric Dahlgren's body was secretly buried there in March 1864; the body was later re-interred to Philadelphia. The RF&P railroad is succeeded by CSX Transportation, which still operates on the same rights-of-way.
The Laurel post office opened in 1933, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Laurel rank for history?
Laurel is more historic than 3% of U.S. towns, #227 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.
How old are the homes in Laurel?
0.6% of Laurel’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1982.
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 Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.
