Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Hinkleville was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1995. Below: maps from 1912 on and old-book passages.
The Hinkleville post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Hinkles Mills (1873) and Hinkle (1894), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Hinkleville’s history is told.
Hinkleville had its own post office from 1872 to 1907. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Hinkleville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Hinkleville.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Hinkleville yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Hinkleville is an unincorporated community in Upshur County, West Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, Hinkleville had a population of 366. The community was named after Abraham Hinkle, the proprietor of a local sawmill.
Its first post office opened in 1872.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Passages that mention Hinkleville, cut from the printed page as they were published.
brought into this district on the head waters of Cutright’s Run in the year 1867, by Abraham Hinkle. This mill sawed its first set on the farm now owned by Benjamin Miles and sawed its second set on the farm now owned by Anthoney Neely, one mile east of the village of Hinkleville. The postoffice at Hinkleville was named after the owner of this first portable steam saw mill in the county, Abraham Hinkle, who was its founder and used much of the lumber sawed at this second set in constructing dwelling house, a country inn or tavern, store house and stables.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Abraham Hinkle, who founded Hinkleville in 1868, owned the second steam saw mill and sawed one set on the Benjamin Miles farm and another set on the David Neely farm, near Hinkleville, in 1867. , Charles Temble owned the first thrasher in the county. It was a chaff-piler.
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.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nobody well known was born in Hinkleville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
The Hinkleville post office opened in 1872, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From 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.
