Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1837.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ruckersville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ruckersville is more historic than 34% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ruckersville’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 Ruckersville’s 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.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to B. The pre-1940 share (±2.1 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1732.
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 Ruckersville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Ruckersville was originally founded by John Rucker in what was then Orange County. He settled east of here on Rippin's Run and named the village for his uncle, Captain John Rucker, who helped choose the site for St. Mark's Parish Church in 1732.
Several early families settled here, including that of John White (1696–1787), the emigrant of Leicestershire who, in 1739, received a land grant from George II of Great Britain for bringing four convicts to the Colonies to work as indentured servants as he reportedly had done himself. The 235 acres was near the storied Swift Run Gap. Six years on, in 1745, White leased and later purchased land just north of Ruckersville, on the north side of the south branch of the Rapidan River.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ruckersville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1935Charlottesville 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 Ruckersville.
Questions about Ruckersville’s history
What year was Ruckersville founded?
In 1732, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Ruckersville’s post office opened in 1837.
How does Ruckersville rank for history?
Ruckersville is more historic than 34% 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.
How old are the homes in Ruckersville?
0.0% of Ruckersville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 2003.
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 (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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