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History · Rectortown

Rectortown’s post office opened in 1880, and 54% of its homes were built before 1940

2 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 460 buildings between them. Below: maps from 1943 on.

1880first post office
2on the National Register
54%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Rectortown began

When was Rectortown founded?

1880

The Rectortown post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Rectortown Station (1819), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 121146 years
Founding year: the first Rectortown post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Rectortown’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtThe Cromwell's Run Rural Historic District takes in 384 historic buildings.A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Rectortown are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

2 listings protect 460 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
460
each building in a district counts
first listed
2004
Rectortown Historic District
Rectortown Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival2
Federal2
Bungalow/Craftsman2
I-House2
Colonial1
Italianate1
Rectortown Historic DistrictGreek Revival
Cromwell's Run Rural Historic DistrictColonial

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Help out

Start Rectortown’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rectortown’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Rectortown, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Rectortown yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Rectortown is a small unincorporated village and census designated place (CDP) in Fauquier County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, Rectortown had a population of 121. The Rectortown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

Its first post office opened in 1880.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Rectortown, 1819 to 1943

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1819Post officeThe Rectortown Station post office opens
  3. 1880Post officeThe Rectortown Station post office closes
  4. 1880Post officeThe Rectortown post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1943On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Rectortown on the map, 1943 to 1970

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rectortown. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Rectortown on the 1943 USGS mapRectortown on the 1970 USGS map1943Rectortown sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Rectortown.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and places now gone

Rectortown’s post office has been open since 1880. Another post office, Rectortown Station, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Rectortown Station
1819–1880
Rectortown
1880–today
18101920today
Gone or out of use
Woodwards Storelocale

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Rectortown’s history

What year was Rectortown founded?

The Rectortown post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Rectortown?

Two places: the Rectortown Historic District (listed 2004) and the Cromwell's Run Rural Historic District (2008).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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). How TownRatings grades history →

From the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.