Marion’s post office opened in 1835, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 90% of U.S. towns · #17 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it
9 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 358 buildings. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1860.
Founding year: the first Marion post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Marion’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Marion is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #17 of 253 in Virginia. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Marion’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 Marion’s 649 sits above most of its state (92% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 368 historic buildings outnumber those of 96% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from A− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.6 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 Marion’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Marion, building by building, 1886–1921
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1886Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
People over time
Marion, census by census
Peaked at 8,385 in 1960; 6,022 people lived here in 2020.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Marion’s Wikipedia page.
Marion College, a two-year Lutheran women's college, operated from 1873 to 1967. Marion Hall, constructed in 1968 and named in honor of Francis Marion, is a residence hall at Roanoke College.
Marion is also home to Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute, continuously operational since May 1887.
In December 1864, during the Civil War, it was the site of the Battle of Marion.
Passages that mention Marion, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Monongalia, Marion and Taylor Counties, West Virginia. Comprising about five hundred sketches of the prominent1895Read the page →
Read the text
constructed long stretches on important raildepot grounds. He built thirteen miles of the Fairmont, Morgantown and Pittsburg railroad, in Marion county ; five miles of the Greenbrier and Grafton railroad; thirteen miles of railroad at Sewell mountain, in Upshur county, for the Camden system; and a thirteen mile railroad for the Longdale Coal and Iron company. He
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Biographical and portrait cyclopedia of Monongalia, Marion and Taylor Counties, West Virginia. Comprising about five hundred sketches of the prominent1895Read the page →
Read the text
German families that settled in eastern Pennsylvania, whence John Shuman, grandfather, emigrated from near Philadelphia to what is known as Minister’s run, Marion county, then Monongalia county. He was one of the first settlers in that section of Marion county.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History and progress of the county of Marion, West Virginia, from its earliest settlement by the whites, down to the present, together with biographical sketches of its most prominent citizens1880Read the page →
Read the text
The year 1852 is notable in the history of Marion county for three important events : The great flood, the completion of the Baltimore and (Jhio Railroad and the building of the wire suspension bridge connecting Fairmont and Palatine.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Marion, 1835 to 1965
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 Marion post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Marion rank for history?
Marion is more historic than 90% of U.S. towns, #17 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 Marion?
9 listings: 8 buildings, among them the Marion Male Academy (listed 1989, the first), and 1 historic district, the Marion Historic District, with 358 contributing buildings. 368 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Marion?
16% of Marion’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1962.
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 (15), the Library of Congress (8), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (9), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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