Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 16% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Below: old-book passages.
The Chesapeake post office opened in 1915, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 16% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Chesapeake is more historic than 16% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age 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 Chesapeake’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.
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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Chesapeake’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of Chesapeake.
Chesapeake was incorporated on November 1, 1948, and was named for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, which has served the community since 1873.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Chesapeake, cut from the printed page as they were published.
RAILROADS IN KANAWHA Kanawha and Charleston have numerous railroads, which may be mentioned as the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, the Kanawha and Michigan Railroad, the Virginian Railroad, The Coal and Coke Railroad, the Kanawha and West Virginia Railroad and the Coal River Railroad. The branches of these various rail-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ing out and developing the town of Levi, on the K. & M. Railroad, six miles east of Charleston, and the latter in building up the town of Chesapeake, on the C. & O. Railroad, twelve miles east of Charleston. These towns are beginning to take form, the companies giving inducements to reputable settlers to buy their homes on borrowed cap-
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Chesapeake had its own post office from 1915 to 1961.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Chesapeake post office opened in 1915, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Chesapeake is more historic than 16% 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.
10% of Chesapeake’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.6 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1960.
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 (2), Wikipedia, 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.
2014
2004