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History · Beaver

Beaver’s post office opened in 1935, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1891 on and the census since 2000.

1935first post office
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
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Quick answers

How Beaver began

When was Beaver founded?

1935

The Beaver post office opened in 1935, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Blue Jay (1906) and Glen Hedrick (1926), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 1,378 in 20002020 census: 1,12991 years
Founding year: the first Beaver post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Beaver’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 Beaver are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18915 editions of the USGS map, 1891 to 1982. Watch Beaver change.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Beaver, and 1 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Beaver’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Beaver’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Beaver on the map, 1891 to 1982

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

Beaver on the 1891 USGS mapBeaver on the 1902 USGS mapBeaver on the 1968 USGS mapBeaver on the 1976 USGS mapBeaver on the 1982 USGS map1891Raleigh sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Beaver.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone

Beaver’s post office has been open since 1935. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Blue Jay
1906–1998
Glen Hedrick
1926–1935
Beaver
1935–today
19001960today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Blue Jay
Gone or out of use
Beaver Elementary Schoolschool

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

The story

How Beaver came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Beaver.

Read it all →

The area around present-day Beaver was settled by Clarkson and William Prince, maternal cousins of Alfred Beckley, who settled nearby Beckleyville. The Prince brothers were nephews of John Beckley, the first Librarian of Congress, who had received land in the area for his service.

The community developed along Beaver Creek and Little Beaver Creek. The streams were named for the large population of beavers historically found in the area. In 1854, the family of Johanis P. Hoback, who later served as a delegate to the West Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1861–1863, moved to Beaver Creek near the present site of Beaver.

ChaptersEarly settlement

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Beaver, 1891 to 1998

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1891On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 20th century
  4. 1906Post officeThe Blue Jay post office opens
  5. 1926Post officeThe Glen Hedrick post office opens
  6. 1935Post officeThe Glen Hedrick post office closes
  7. 1935Post officeThe Beaver post office opens
  8. 1998Post officeThe Blue Jay post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
People over time

Beaver, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,40020002020Peak: 1,378

Between 1,129 and 1,378 people in every census since 2000.

3 censuses, 2000–2020.

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Beaver

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

See all →
Chris SarandonAmerican actor · b. 1942
Tom CarperAmerican politician · b. 1947
Little Jimmy DickensAmerican musician · b. 1920
Mike D'AntoniAmerican-Italian basketball player and coach · b. 1951
Sylvia BurwellFormer United States Secretary of Health and Hu… · b. 1965
John Davis ChandlerAmerican actor · b. 1935
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

DanielsIts storyC−

Questions about Beaver’s history

What year was Beaver founded?

The Beaver post office opened in 1935, 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 Wikipedia, 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.