The Lavalette post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Lavelette (1891), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 932134 years
How historic is Lavalette?
D
More historic than 10% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Lavalette post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Lavalette’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lavalette is more historic than 10% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
D
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lavalette’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 Lavalette’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 D. The pre-1940 share (±2.7 points) is firm at this size. 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 Lavalette’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lavalette. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1901Guyandot sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Lavalette.
The story so far
Lavalette, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Lavalette yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Lavalette is a census-designated place (CDP) in Wayne County, West Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 932 (down from 1,073 at the 2010 census). Lavalette is located at the intersection of West Virginia Route 152 and West Virginia Route 75, eight miles south of Huntington. The town is near Beech Fork Lake, a popular location for boating and fishing, and Twelvepole Creek. Lavalette was named after Lavalette Miller, the daughter of a Norfolk & Western Railway official. Lavalette is a part of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 287,702. Lavalette has two 18-hole public golf cou…
Its first post office opened in 1892. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,073 to 932 (-13%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Timeline
Lavalette, 1891 to 1901
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Lavalette’s post office has been open since 1892. Another post office, Lavelette, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Lavelette
1891–1892
Lavalette
1892–today
18901960today
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Lavalette’s history
What year was Lavalette founded?
The Lavalette post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Lavalette rank for history?
Lavalette 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 Lavalette?
0.0% of Lavalette’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.7 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1984.
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 (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
2017
