Founding year: the first Eleanor post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Eleanor’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Eleanor is more historic than 24% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Eleanor’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 Eleanor’s 5.8 sits near the middle of its state (44% of West Virginia towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% 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 (±5.0 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 →
Eleanor was established in 1934, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor visited the county and developed it as a test site for families.
As a "sundown town", like other Franklin Roosevelt towns around the nation (such as Greenbelt, Greenhills, Greendale, Hanford, or Norris), it was for whites only.
It was one of three resettlement communities in West Virginia, the others being Arthurdale and Tygart Valley. When the town was developed, the houses were built to look very similar to one another and are now referred to as old Eleanor houses. There are three schools in Eleanor: George Washington Elementary School, George Washington Middle School and the Putnam County Career and Technical Center.
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.
The Eleanor post office opened in 1936, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Eleanor rank for history?
Eleanor is more historic than 24% 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.
What is on the National Register in Eleanor?
One place: the Eleanor Historic District (listed 2023).
How old are the homes in Eleanor?
8% of Eleanor’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1974.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
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