Smithfield dates to 1752, and 7 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 86% of U.S. towns · #25 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it
Most of Smithfield was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1992. 7 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 55 buildings between them. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1897 on, and the census since 1850.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1776.
History grade
What drives Smithfield’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Smithfield is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #25 of 253 in Virginia. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Smithfield’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 Smithfield’s 336 sits above most of its state (85% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 297 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.3 points). Two sources give 1752.
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 Smithfield’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Every building
Smithfield, building by building, 1897–1913
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.
1897Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
The story so far
Smithfield, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Smithfield yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Smithfield is a town in Isle of Wight County, in the South Hampton Roads subregion of the Hampton Roads region of Virginia, United States. The population was 8,533 at the 2020 census. The town is most famous for the curing and production of the Smithfield ham. The Virginia General Assembly passed a statute defining "Smithfield ham" by law in 1926, with one of the requirements that it be processed within the town limits. Smithfield Foods, a Fortune 500 company that owns Smithfield Packing Company and others, is the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. The company, based in Smithfield, raises 12 million hogs and processes 20 million pounds of them annually. The company's largest s…
Smithfield was established in 1752. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 8,089 to 8,533 (+5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Smithfield in 1853
Passages that mention Smithfield, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Historical and descriptive sketches of Norfolk and vicinity1853 · page 480Read the page →
Read the text
The beautiful and pleasant little town of Smithfield is situated in the northern part of Isle of AVight County, "on an elevated bank on the margin of Pagan Creek, a bold and navigable stream, commanding a splendid view of both land and water scenery — the country, for ten miles on the opposite bank of the James, being in full sight." There are about twenty stores, a number of handsome residences, and three or four churches ; — population 1500. The place is tastefully ornamented with
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
Smithfield, 1752 to 2010
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.
In 1752, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Smithfield’s post office opened in 1776, and the census of 1850 counted 733 people here.
How does Smithfield rank for history?
Smithfield is more historic than 86% of U.S. towns, #25 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 Smithfield?
7 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Old Isle of Wight Courthouse (listed 1970, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Smithfield Historic District and the Ivy Hill Cemetery, with 55 contributing buildings. 297 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Smithfield?
6% of Smithfield’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 1992.
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 (15), the Library of Congress (3), the National Register of Historic Places (7), 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.
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