Most of Cassville was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2011. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1904 on, and old-book passages.
The Cassville post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Scotts Run (1843), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 1,268179 years
How historic is Cassville?
B−
More historic than 46% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Cassville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Cassville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cassville is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cassville’s overall grade.
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 Cassville’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (17% of West Virginia towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 Cassville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Cassville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Cassville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 1,268 at the 2020 census. It is included in the Morgantown metropolitan area. Cassville was named after Lewis Cass, a prominent American statesman who served as Secretary of War, Secretary of State, and Governor of Michigan.
Its first post office opened in 1847. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 701 to 1,268 (+81%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Cassville in 1883
Passages that mention Cassville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Monongalia County, West Virginia, from its first settlements to the present time1883 · page 701Read the page →
Read the text
and called it Jacksonville. About 1840, a post-office was agitated, but there was one post-office by the name of Jacksonville in the State, and Nicholas B. Madera suggested Cassville, which was adopted, and, some time after, the name of the town was changed to Cassville, and a postoffice wras obtained. The first postmaster was Peter A.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Monongalia County, West Virginia, from its first settlements to the present time1883 · page 698Read the page →
Read the text
About 1785 or 86, William Dawson, a boy, was captured near Cassville (see page 78). GROWTH OF THE DISTRICT. Agriculture having been the main pursuit of the people of the district from the time it was first settled, hence the growth could not be rapid like that of a manufacturing district. No great thoroughfares of travel passed through it, therefore its great mineral wealth has never been touched
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.
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.
Retake this viewThe Patch, a shanty town at Cassville, Scotts Run, West Virginia, 1935
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Cassville’s page.
The Cassville post office opened in 1847, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Cassville rank for history?
Cassville is more historic than 46% of U.S. towns. 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.
How old are the homes in Cassville?
10% of Cassville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.6 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 2011.
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 the Library of Congress (12), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
1935
1935
1938
1938
1938
1938
1938
1938
1938
1938
1938
1938
