Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns · #33 of 61 in West Virginia. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Thomas R. Carskadon House. Its Register listing is the Thomas R. Carskadon House. Below: 13 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1880.
Keyser dates its founding to 1852 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 62% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Keyser is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #33 of 61 in West Virginia. 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 Keyser’s 2.1 sits near the middle of its state (39% of West Virginia towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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.
Peaked at 6,586 in 1970; 4,864 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Keyser’s Wikipedia page.
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1892Sheet 1 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
7 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
19239-24-1923 Keyser W VA
1950Sons of Italy
1968B and O STORAGE FACILITY AT KEYSER. - Baltimore and O…
1968FREIGHT YARDS AT KEYSER. TRAIN SHED AND B and O STORA…
1968GENERAL VIEW LOOKING NORTH AT FREIGHT STATION. NOTE B…
1968GENERAL VIEW LOOKING SOUTH AT FREIGHT STATION. - Balt…
1968GENERAL VIEW LOOKING SOUTHWEST SHOWING RAILROAD STATI…
1968TURNTABLE AND ROUNDHOUSE AT KEYSER. MACHINE SHOP IS V…From Wikipedia’s history of Keyser.
Keyser, the county seat of Mineral County, is located on the North Branch of the Potomac River at its juncture with New Creek in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia. Throughout the centuries, the town went through a series of name changes, but was ultimately named after William Keyser, a Baltimore and Ohio Railroad official.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveCamp of 22nd Pennsylvania (Ringgold) Cavalry, Union Army, New Creek (Keyser), W.Va
In the archiveKeyser Land Advertisement
In the archiveThe Potomac near Keyser
In the archiveArmstrong Street
Born hereHarley Orrin Staggers is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyIn the archive9-24-1923 Keyser W VA
Born hereRuth Ann Davis is born hereIn the archiveSons of ItalyEvery edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Keyser. 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 Keyser.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Keyser’s page.
Retake this view · +15The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Keyser’s post office has been open since 1874. Another post office, New Creek Station, 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).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1852, according to Wikidata. Keyser’s post office opened in 1857, and the census of 1880 counted 1,693 people here.
Keyser is more historic than 62% of U.S. towns, #33 of 61 in West Virginia. 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.
One place: the Thomas R. Carskadon House (listed 2002).
34% of Keyser’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.6 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 (17), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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