Roanoke dates to 1852, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940
More historic than 81% of U.S. towns · #38 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it
60 places in town are on the National Register, among them ten historic districts with 3,880 buildings between them. Below: 10 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1881.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Roanoke’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Roanoke is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #38 of 253 in Virginia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Roanoke’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 Roanoke’s 401 sits above most of its state (87% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 3,947 historic buildings outnumber those of 100% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1852.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share (±1.6 points) is firm at this size.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Roanoke’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The current site of Roanoke lies near the intersection of the Great Wagon Road and the Carolina Road, two branches of a network of early colonial roads that developed from Native American trails in the Appalachian region. While the name Roanoke is said to have originated from a Native American word for shell beads used as currency, that word was first used 300 miles (480 km) away, where the Roanoke River empties into the Atlantic Ocean near Roanoke Island. When Europeans arrived, the Roanoke Valley itself was home to members of the Tutelo tribe, a Siouan-speaking people who were gradually pushed out of the area by advancing European settlers.
Passages that mention Roanoke, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Sir Walter Raleigh's lost colony. An historical sketch of the attempts of Sir Walter Raleigh to establish a colony in Virginia, with the traditions of an Indian tribe in North Carolina. Indicating the fate of the colony of Englishmen left on Roanoke Islan1888 · page 12Read the page →
Read the text
Lawson wrote in 1714, one hundred and twenty-seven years after the colonists were last seen on Roanoke Island. Sixty nine years after the settlement on that island, and sixty years betore the event related by Lawson, Roanoke was visited by an Englishman, Francis Yeardly, who, in a letter to John Farrar, Esquire, dated May 8th 1654, relates a visit made to Roanoke Island by himself and others, ''where or thereabouts they found the great commander of these parts with his Indians ahunting, wbo received
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Sir Walter Raleigh's lost colony. An historical sketch of the attempts of Sir Walter Raleigh to establish a colony in Virginia, with the traditions of an Indian tribe in North Carolina. Indicating the fate of the colony of Englishmen left on Roanoke Islan1888 · page 25Read the page →
Read the text
We must remtmber that the region embracing Croatan Island and the adjacent mainland was unexplored for a long period after the attempt at settlement on Roanoke Island. The history of those times shows tiiat in 1609 the northeast corner of North Carolina was settled by a colony from Virginia.
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
Roanoke, 1852 to 1949
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Roanoke. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1929Roanoke sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Roanoke.
Every building
Roanoke, building by building, 1886–1930
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.
In 1852, according to Wikidata. Roanoke’s post office opened in 1881, and the census of 1880 counted 669 people here.
How does Roanoke rank for history?
Roanoke is more historic than 81% of U.S. towns, #38 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 Roanoke?
60 listings: 38 buildings, among them the Lone Oaks (listed 1973, the first), 18 historic districts with 3,880 contributing buildings, and 4 structures. 3,947 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Roanoke?
25% of Roanoke’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±1.6 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1958.
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 (8), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (60), 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.
1884
1884
1891
1895
1906
1907
1907
