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History · Virgilina

Virgilina’s post office opened in 1890, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1953 on and the census since 1900.

1890first post office
0on the National Register
32%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers

How Virgilina began

When was Virgilina founded?

1890

The Virgilina post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 200 in 19002020 census: 126136 years
Founding year: the first Virgilina post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Virgilina’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Virgilina are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 358 in 1940; 126 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Virgilina’s homes were built before 1951.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Virgilina’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Virgilina’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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People over time

Virgilina, census by census

01002003004001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 358

Peaked at 358 in 1940; 126 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Virgilina’s Wikipedia page.

The story so far

Virgilina, in brief

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

Virgilina is a town in Halifax County, Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, Virgilina had a population of 226. Virgilina was once a copper mining town. It was a stop on the Atlantic and Danville Railway as recently as the 1950s. It is named "Virgilina" because it is located on the Virginia and North Carolina border.

Its first post office opened in 1890. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 154 to 126 (-18%).

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

Timeline

Virgilina, 1890 to 1953

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1890Post officeThe Virgilina post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 358
  5. 1953On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Virgilina, decade by decade

Today13 recent
Virgilina, Virginia2014Virgilina, VirginiaVirgilina, Virginia2014Virgilina, VirginiaVirgilina, Virginia2014Virgilina, VirginiaVirgilina, Virginia2014Virgilina, VirginiaVirgilina, Virginia2014Virgilina, VirginiaVirgilina, Virginia2014Virgilina, VirginiaVirgilina, Virginia2014Virgilina, VirginiaVirgilina, Virginia2014Virgilina, VirginiaVirgilina, Virginia2014Virgilina, VirginiaVirgilina, Virginia2014Virgilina, VirginiaVirgilina, Virginia2014Virgilina, VirginiaVirgilina, Virginia2014Virgilina, VirginiaVAMap-doton-Virgilina2005VAMap-doton-Virgilina
On the map

Virgilina on the map, 1953 to 1990

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

Virgilina on the 1953 USGS mapVirgilina on the 1968 USGS mapVirgilina on the 1980 USGS mapVirgilina on the 1990 USGS map1953South Boston 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 Virgilina.

Famous people

Famous people close to Virgilina

Nobody well known was born in Virgilina itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Ben E. KingAmerican singer · b. 1938
Charlie RoseAmerican TV interviewer and journalist · b. 1942
Greg VanneyAmerican soccer player and coach · b. 1974
Jerome KerseyAmerican basketball player · b. 1962
Donna EdwardsAmerican politician · b. 1958
Charity Adams EarleyUnited States African American woman Army offic… · b. 1918
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Virgilina’s post office has been open since 1890.

Gone or out of use
Virgilina Elementary Schoolschool

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

Questions about Virgilina’s history

What year was Virgilina founded?

The Virgilina post office opened in 1890, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikimedia Commons (13), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), 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.