The Burnsville post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Laforme's Store (1868), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 394152 years
Founding year: the first Burnsville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
What stands out about Burnsville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Burnsville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Burnsville is a town in Braxton County, West Virginia, United States, at the confluence of the Little Kanawha River and Saltlick Creek. The population was 401 at the 2020 census. Burnsville was incorporated in 1902 by the Circuit Court and named for Captain John Burns who operated the first sawmill in that section of the state and who established the town shortly after the close of the American Civil War. It was named "All West Virginia City" in 1976.
Its first post office opened in 1874. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 510 to 394 (-23%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Burnsville in 1919
Passages that mention Burnsville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Braxton County and central West Virginia1919 · page 109Read the page →
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plant to Elizabeth in Wert county, this state. In the meantime, other industries located in the town. In 1892, the West Virginia & Pittsburg railroad was built through the town, and in 1906, the Coal & Coke railroad was completed from Elkins to Charleston, passing through Burnsville. When the road running from Parkersburg or beyond, which is now completed as far as Elizabeth in Wert county, passing through the rich coal fields of Gilmer, and a fine farming and grazing section in the Little Kanawha valley, tapping the Coal & Coke and the B. & 0. at Burnsville, that town will have the finest railroad facilities of
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Braxton County and central West Virginia1919 · page 235Read the page →
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The Braxton Circuit at that time extended from the mouth of Oil creek, north of the town of Burnsville, to Peter's creek, seven miles south of Summersville in Nicholas county, and from Brown's Mountain to the mouth of Duck creek on the Elk river. This charge had over fifteen appointments. In 1855 or 1856, that which had been known as the Braxton Circuit was divided, setting off the Nicholas Circuit, which included all of the original Braxton Circuit lying south
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
Burnsville, 1868 to 1918
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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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