Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Its Register listings are the Daniel Bassel House and the Lost Creek Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Depot. Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1950.
The Lost Creek post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name.
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 Lost Creek’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Lost Creek. 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 Lost Creek.
From Wikipedia’s history of Lost Creek.
Lost Creek was incorporated in 1946, and was named after nearby Lost Creek. The creek itself was named after messages carved on nearby trees during early European exploration of the area.
The Daniel Bassel House and Lost Creek Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Depot are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Lost Creek, cut from the printed page as they were published.
Ohio, one section of E wing's Battery and Bowen's troop of cavalry was sent to Lost Creek where a small force of Imboden 's men had collected, but on approaching the place as Captain Ewing's guns were being unlirabered in Squire Bassel's field on a knoll overlooking the cross roads where the village of Lost Creek now is, the Rebels hastily fled, some towards Jane Lew, but the largest column going towards Rockford, both columns being closely chased by the contingent of cavalry ever ready for a chase of this kind, while the belching of the two guns in Squire Bassel's field
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1808-09 a church was built at Lost Creek by the Seventh Day Baptist, which was replaced by a brick building in 1870. The Methodist Episcopal Church South was built in Clarksburg on the comer of Chestnut and Main Streets in 1854.
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.
The 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.
Between 359 and 798 people in every census since 1950.
8 censuses, 1950–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Lost Creek’s Wikipedia page.
Lost Creek’s post office has been open since 1833.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Lost Creek post office opened in 1833, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Two places: the Daniel Bassel House (listed 2002) and the Lost Creek Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Depot (2005).
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 Wikimedia Commons (4), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, 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 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.
2014
2013
2013
2004
