Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns · #31 of 61 in West Virginia. What drives it
Most of Bridgeport was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1979. Its Register listings are the Governor Joseph Johnson House, the Simpson Creek Covered Bridge and the Bridgeport Lamp Chimney Company Bowstring Concrete Arch Bridge. Below: 9 old photos and papers, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1880.
Bridgeport dates its founding to 1771 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 68% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bridgeport is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #31 of 61 in West Virginia. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
West Virginia towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical West Virginia town has 29.6 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bridgeport’s 3.2 sits near the middle of its state (41% of West Virginia towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bridgeport. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bridgeport.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereWaldo P. Johnson is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveBARREL SHOT LOOKING NORTH ACROSS BRIDGE. - Bridgeport Lamp Chimney Company, Simpson Creek…From Wikipedia’s history of Bridgeport.
Trapper and fur trader John Simpson entered the area in 1764 and gave his name to Simpson Creek. Bridgeport was first settled between 1771 and 1774, when settlers constructed a fort. Simpson Creek Baptist Church was one of the first churches west of the Allegheny Mountains.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Bridgeport, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The Circuit Court in an order entered March 21, 1887, sets forth that Jasper N. Wilkinson, Thomas H. Kenney and J. B. Martin, who reside in Bridgeport, have caused an accurate map and survey to be made of the territory in Harrison County to be incorporated as the town of Bridgeport, and it appearing that at an election held at the office of D. D.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
This plot of ground is included in the 400 acres patented to Andrew, the father of David, in the year 1774, and near the present town of Bridgeport. At the time this deed was made, the meeting house was already built, but the time of its construction is not known In 1801 the Seventh Day Baptist built a log church at Salem, two stories high, of hewed logs.
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.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1968BARREL SHOT LOOKING NORTH ACROSS BRIDGE. - Bridgeport…
1968Bridgeport Lamp Chimney Company, Simpson Creek Bridge…
1968Bridgeport Lamp Chimney Company, Simpson Creek Bridge…
1968Bridgeport Lamp Chimney Company, Simpson Creek Bridge…
1968Bridgeport Lamp Chimney Company, Simpson Creek Bridge…
1968DETAIL VIEW SHOWING EXPOSED REINFORCING BARS. - Bridg…
1968GENERAL VIEW LOOKING EAST, SHOWING REINFORCED CONCRET…
1968GENERAL VIEW SHOWING SIMPSON CREEK BRIDGE WITH BRIDGE…
1968VIEW SHOWING REINFORCED CONCRETE BRIDGE AND END PIERS…No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bridgeport’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Grew from 395 people in 1880 to 9,336 in 2020, more than tenfold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bridgeport’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Bridgeport’s post office has been open since 1814.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
In 1771, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Bridgeport’s post office opened in 1814, and the census of 1880 counted 395 people here.
Bridgeport is more historic than 68% of U.S. towns, #31 of 61 in West 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.
Three places: the Governor Joseph Johnson House (listed 1987), the Simpson Creek Covered Bridge (1981) and the Bridgeport Lamp Chimney Company Bowstring Concrete Arch Bridge (1997).
5% of Bridgeport’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.5 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1979.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (3), 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 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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