Most of Crab Orchard was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1964. Below: maps from 1914 on and the census since 2000.
The Crab Orchard post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Sutphin (1904) and Viacova (1917), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 2,761 in 20002020 census: 2,416115 years
How historic is Crab Orchard?
D
More historic than 10% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Crab Orchard post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Crab Orchard’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Crab Orchard is more historic than 10% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Crab Orchard’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 Crab Orchard’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 D− to C−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.8 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 Crab Orchard’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Crab Orchard is famous, historically, as the town in which Senator Robert Byrd organized a chapter for the Ku Klux Klan. After Byrd had collected the $10 joining fee and $3 charge for a robe and hood from every applicant, the Grand Dragon Joel L. Baskin for the mid-Atlantic states came down to Crab Orchard, to officially organize the chapter... "When it came time to choose the Exalted Cyclops, the top officer in the local Klan unit, Byrd won unanimously."
Crab Orchard was named for the many crab apple trees near the original town site.
The Crab Orchard post office opened in 1911, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Crab Orchard rank for history?
Crab Orchard is more historic than 10% 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 Crab Orchard?
5% of Crab Orchard’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.8 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 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.
