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AHistory
History · Warrenton

Warrenton dates to 1810, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 85% of U.S. towns · #27 of 253 in Virginia. What drives it

9 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 70 buildings between them. Below: 24 old photos and papers, maps from 1886 on, and the census since 1860.

1810founded
9on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
24old photos & papers
35famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Warrenton’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Warrenton began

When was Warrenton founded?

1810

Warrenton dates its founding to 1810 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.

First census: 604 in 18602020 census: 10,057216 years

How historic is Warrenton?

A

More historic than 85% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1797.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Warrenton’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Warrenton is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #27 of 253 in Virginia. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.

A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Warrenton’s overall grade.
Founding era1810, from Wikidata: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 194016.5% of homes (±3.8) · typical VA town 1.9% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register9 listings, 92 historic buildings, 90.4 per 10,000 residents · typical VA town 3.6 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 85%
NewerOlder
Virginia towns of 2,500+ (253)Ahead of 90%

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 Warrenton’s 90.4 sits above most of its state (72% of Virginia towns have fewer) while its 92 historic buildings outnumber those of 89% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.8 points). Two sources give 1810.

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 Warrenton’s past

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

A town in old photos24 old photos, postcards and papers, 1860–1908.On the map since 18946 editions of the USGS map, 1894 to 1994. Watch Warrenton change.A historic districtThe Warrenton Historic District takes in 63 historic buildings.Mapped building by building6 fire insurance maps, 1886 to 1924, drew every building in Warrenton.
★ What stands out · By decade

Warrenton, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s12 items
Warrenton Station, Vac. 1860Warrenton Station, VaWarrenton Station, Vac. 1860Warrenton Station, VaGroup at Headquarters Army of Potomac, Warrenton, Va., November 18621862Group at Headquarters Army of Potomac, Warrenton, Va.…Lieut. Colonel A.V. Colburn, Warrenton, Va., November, 18621862Lieut. Colonel A.V. Colburn, Warrenton, Va., November…McClellan at1862McClellan atVirginia, Warrenton, "What do I want, John Henry"?1862Virginia, Warrenton, "What do I want, John Henry"?Warrenton railroad depot1862Warrenton railroad depot[Black Soldier in Camp]c. 1863[Black Soldier in Camp]Gen. Custer and Gen. Pleasanton, Warrenton, Va., October 18631863Gen. Custer and Gen. Pleasanton, Warrenton, Va., Octo…Map of Warrenton Junction, Orange and Alexandria R.R., Virginia shewing destruction of R.R. by enemy, October 1863. LOC…1863Map of Warrenton Junction, Orange and Alexandria R.R.…MapMap of the Country between New Baltimore on the east, Warrenton and Thornton's Gap on the south; Strasburg on the West,…1863Map of the Country between New Baltimore on the east,…MapPortrait of Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, officer of the Federal Army, and staff, Warrenton, Va. LOC cwpb.037801863Portrait of Maj. Gen. Alfred Pleasonton, officer of t…
1880s–1900s12 items
Lynching of Arthur Jordan Illustration1880Lynching of Arthur Jordan IllustrationFauquierSketch AlbertFletcherJrResidence1908FauquierSketch AlbertFletcherJrResidenceFauquierSketch BelcarresMissesLomax1908FauquierSketch BelcarresMissesLomaxFauquierSketch CharlesMWhiteResidence1908FauquierSketch CharlesMWhiteResidenceFauquierSketch ClothingStoreNusBaumAndAnderson1908FauquierSketch ClothingStoreNusBaumAndAndersonFauquierSketch DPWoodHardwareStore1908FauquierSketch DPWoodHardwareStoreFauquierSketch DPWoodHardwareStoreInterior1908FauquierSketch DPWoodHardwareStoreInteriorFauquierSketch ERWBarkerResidence1908FauquierSketch ERWBarkerResidenceFauquierSketch EdwardSTurnerResidence1908FauquierSketch EdwardSTurnerResidenceFauquierSketch ElwayHallBalwinDaySpilman1908FauquierSketch ElwayHallBalwinDaySpilmanFauquierSketch FauquierClub1908FauquierSketch FauquierClubFauquierSketch FauquierClubInterior1908FauquierSketch FauquierClubInterior
1910s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
On the map

Warrenton on the map, 1894 to 1994

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

Warrenton on the 1894 USGS mapWarrenton on the 1927 USGS mapWarrenton on the 1930 USGS mapWarrenton on the 1966 USGS mapWarrenton on the 1971 USGS mapWarrenton on the 1994 USGS map1894Warrenton 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 Warrenton.

On the National Register

9 listings protect 92 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed
9
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
92
each building in a district counts
first listed
1978
Brentmoor
BrentmoorOld Fauquier County JailMonterosaYorkshire HouseDakotaParadiseWarrenton Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Colonial Revival5
Italianate2
Queen Anne2
Italian Villa1
Modern Movement1
Federal Revival1
BrentmoorItalian Villa
Old Fauquier County JailBuilding
MonterosaItalianate
LorettaColonial Revival
Yorkshire HouseModern Movement
DakotaColonial Revival
HopefieldColonial Revival
ParadiseBuilding
All 9 listings
Warrenton Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2024

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

The story

How Warrenton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Warrenton.

Read it all →

The settlement which would grow into the town of Warrenton began as a crossroads at the junction of the Falmouth-Winchester and Alexandria-Culpeper roads, where a trading post called the Red Store was located. In the 1790s, a courthouse was built in the area, and the location was known as "Fauquier Courthouse".

The Town of Warrenton was incorporated on January 5, 1810, and named for General Joseph Warren, a Revolutionary War hero. Richard Henry Lee donated the land for the county seat. John S. Horner, Secretary of Wisconsin Territory and Acting Governor of Michigan Territory, was born in Warrenton. John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, was from Germantown, modern-day Midland, 10 miles (16 km) south of Warrenton.

Chapters18th century and founding19th century and the American Civil War20th century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Warrenton, 1797 to 1961

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

  1. 18th century
  2. 1797Post officeThe Fauquier Courthouse post office opens
  3. 19th century
  4. 1810
    FoundingWarrenton is established
  5. 1818Born hereMary H. Eastman is born here
  6. 1822Born hereEppa Hunton is born here
  7. 1823Post officeThe Warrenton post office opens
  8. 1825Born hereFrank Hereford is born here
  9. 1826Post officeThe Fauquier Courthouse post office closes
  10. 1860In the archiveWarrenton Station, Va
  11. 1880In the archiveLynching of Arthur Jordan Illustration
  12. 1894On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  13. 20th century
  14. 1908In the archiveFauquierSketch AlbertFletcherJrResidence
  15. 1961Born hereBenita Fitzgerald-Brown is born here
Every building

Warrenton, building by building, 1886–1924

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.

Warrenton fire insurance map, 1886, sheet 21886Sheet 2 of 2
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Warrenton Station, Va
Retake this viewWarrenton Station, Va, c. 1860

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Warrenton’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Warrenton, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,00019001950200010,057

Grew from 604 people in 1860 to 10,057 in 2020, more than tenfold.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

Famous people

35 famous people were born in Warrenton

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Benita Fitzgerald-BrownAmerican hurdler · b. 1961
Eppa HuntonU.S. Representative and Senator from Virginia a… · b. 1822
Frank HerefordAmerican politician · b. 1825
Mary H. EastmanAmerican writer on Native American life, pro-sl… · b. 1818
René MarieAmerican jazz singer and songwriter · b. 1955
Dorothy B. PorterAmerican librarian · b. 1905
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Warrenton’s post office has been open since 1823. Another post office, Fauquier Courthouse, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Fauquier Courthouse
1797–1826
Warrenton
1823–today
17901910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Alwington
Gone or out of use
Rosenwald Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Warrenton
Warrenton

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

Help out

Finish Warrenton’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewWarrenton Station, Va: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Warrenton’s history

What year was Warrenton founded?

In 1810, according to Wikidata. Warrenton’s post office opened in 1797, and the census of 1860 counted 604 people here.

How does Warrenton rank for history?

Warrenton is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns, #27 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 Warrenton?

9 listings: 7 buildings, among them the Brentmoor (listed 1978, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Hopefield and the Warrenton Historic District, with 70 contributing buildings. 92 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Warrenton?

17% of Warrenton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 1.9% for a Virginia town; the median home was built in 1987.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (24), the National Register of Historic Places (9), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.