Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 17% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Patrick Springs was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: maps from 1926 on.
The Patrick Springs post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 17% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Patrick Springs is more historic than 17% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
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 Patrick Springs’ 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.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Patrick Springs’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Patrick Springs.
In 1857, the area's first post office was operated as Spabrook Station in the vicinity of the old Patrick Springs hotel and mineral resort. Spabrooke Station was named Patrick Springs post office in 1859. A second post office was operated on Route 680 just north of old Route 58 and was called Shuff post office.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Patrick Springs. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Patrick Springs.
Nobody well known was born in Patrick Springs itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Patrick Springs’s post office has been open since 1859.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Patrick Springs post office opened in 1859, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Patrick Springs is more historic than 17% 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.
3% of Patrick Springs’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.2 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1975.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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, 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.
