The story
Read it all →How Matoaca came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Matoaca.
Olive Hill was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
CHistory
History · Matoaca
Matoaca’s post office opened in 1871, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 26% of U.S. towns · #144 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it
Most of Matoaca was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1969. Its Register listing is the Olive Hill. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1970.
1871first post office
1on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
7old photos & papers
Quick answers
How Matoaca began
When was Matoaca founded?
1871
The Matoaca post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 829 in 19702020 census: 2,655155 years
How historic is Matoaca?
C
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 26% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Matoaca post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Matoaca’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Matoaca is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns, #144 of 253 in Virginia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Matoaca’s overall grade.
Founding era1871, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19401.7% of homes (±2.8) · typical VA town 1.9% · U.S. 8.4%C−National Register1 listing, 3.7 per 10,000 residents · typical VA town 3.6 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 26%
NewerOlder
Virginia towns of 2,500+ (253)Ahead of 43%
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 Matoaca’s 3.7 sits near the middle of its state (47% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C. The pre-1940 share (±2.8 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 Matoaca’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · On the map
Matoaca on the map, 1894 to 1994
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Matoaca. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1894Petersburg sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Matoaca.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices and old corners
Matoaca had its own post office from 1871 to 1955.
Matoaca
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Beechnut AcresHolly AcresMatoaca ManorNoweta GardensRabbit RunRiver View ParkRobertson PlaceTrojan Woods
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Matoaca, 1871 to 1955
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
Matoaca, decade by decade
One decade in the archive so far: the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1910s7 items
1911A Suggestion for Dependent Widows. Mrs. Bessie Hicks,…
1911Housing conditions are not very good
1911A Suggestion for Dependent Widows. Mrs. Bessie Hicks,…
1911Group showing typical workers in the small mills of V…
1911Lawrence Purdie (right end) has been spinning in the …
1911Mrs. L. Bosher, living in a rundown cotton mill villa…
1911Mrs. Fannie Foster, a widow in the cotton mill at Mat…1920s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
2015
2015
2014
2014
2005Then & 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 viewA Suggestion for Dependent Widows. Mrs. Bessie Hicks, a widow in the mill settlement at Matoaca, Va. She has no childre…, 1911
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Matoaca’s page.
Retake this view · +15On the National Register
1 historic place in Matoaca
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1975
Olive Hill
Buildings
Architectural styles listings
Georgian1
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Matoaca, census by census
Grew from 829 people in 1970 to 2,655 in 2020, 3 times over.
5 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Matoaca’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Matoaca
Nobody well known was born in Matoaca itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Help out
Finish Matoaca’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Questions about Matoaca’s history
What year was Matoaca founded?
The Matoaca post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Matoaca rank for history?
Matoaca is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns, #144 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 Matoaca?
One place: the Olive Hill (listed 1975).
How old are the homes in Matoaca?
2% of Matoaca’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.8 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1969.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Start a conversation
Sources
Where this page comes from
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 Library of Congress (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.