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History · Chapmanville

Chapmanville dates to 1800, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1912 on, and the census since 1950.

1800founded
0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Chapmanville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Chapmanville began

When was Chapmanville founded?

1800

Chapmanville dates its founding to 1800 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1950.

First census: 1,349 in 19502020 census: 1,020226 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1838.The full story ↓

What stands out about Chapmanville’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19124 editions of the USGS map, 1912 to 1976. Watch Chapmanville change.Deep rootsEstablished in 1800: 226 years of Chapmanville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Chapmanville’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewLogo of: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

Chapmanville on the map, 1912 to 1976

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

Chapmanville on the 1912 USGS mapChapmanville on the 1926 USGS mapChapmanville on the 1963 USGS mapChapmanville on the 1976 USGS map1912Holden 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 Chapmanville.

Timeline

Chapmanville, 1800 to 1912

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1800
    FoundingChapmanville is established
  3. 1838Post officeThe Chapmanville post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1912On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Chapmanville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Chapmanville.

Read it all →

Captain Henry Farley, a veteran of the Revolutionary War and resident of Montgomery County, Virginia, was the first known Anglo visitor to present-day Chapmanville. In June 1792, Captain Farley passed through the area while pursuing a Native American war party that had raided Virginia settlements at Bluestone River. By the time he reached what is today Chapmanville, he and his group had already engaged the retreating natives in the headwaters of Coal River and in the Guyandotte River valley some two miles below what is today Logan. Farley pursued the natives to the mouth of the Guyandotte River before returning home.

ChaptersCaptain Farley's RaidPioneer SettlersCivil War

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Chapmanville, decade by decade

Date unknown1 to date
Logo ofDate?Logo of
Today5 recent
Chapmanville-from-Garnet-wv2018Chapmanville-from-Garnet-wvChapmanville-RR-sign-wv2018Chapmanville-RR-sign-wvChapmanville-Police-Department-wv2018Chapmanville-Police-Department-wvChapmanville-Main-Street-wv2018Chapmanville-Main-Street-wvWVMap-doton-Chapmanville2004WVMap-doton-Chapmanville
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.

Logo of
Retake this viewLogo of

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Chapmanville, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001960198020002020Peak: 1,349

Between 1,020 and 1,349 people in every census since 1950.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Chapmanville’s post office has been open since 1838.

Gone or out of use
East Chapmanville Elementary Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Chapmanville
Chapman

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

Questions about Chapmanville’s history

What year was Chapmanville founded?

In 1800, according to Wikidata. Chapmanville’s post office opened in 1838, and the census of 1950 counted 1,349 people here.

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 Wikimedia Commons (6), 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.