Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Glennmary. Most of Riverdale was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1993. Below: maps from 1953 on and old-book passages.
More historic than 24% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Riverdale is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls 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 Riverdale’s 27.9 sits near the middle of its state (61% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 3 historic buildings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Riverdale’s history is told.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Riverdale yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Riverdale is a census-designated place in Halifax County, Virginia, United States. The population as of the 2010 census was 956.
Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 956 in 2010, 949 in 2020.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Riverdale, cut from the printed page as they were published.
and fastened with wooden pegs, secured by wooden nuts— not a piece of iron, steel or iron nails in it, excepting where the floor has been renewed; and we are told that the highway will be built across the river through Riverdale (the colored settlement), and a new concrete bridge will supplant the present landmark, this monument to the builder.
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.
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 Riverdale. 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 Riverdale.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Nobody well known was born in Riverdale itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
Riverdale is more historic than 24% 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.
One place: the Glennmary (listed 1979).
0.0% of Riverdale’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.3 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1993.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the USGS Geographic Names Information System 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.
