Founding year: the first Mabscott post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Mabscott’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mabscott is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mabscott’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 Mabscott’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 B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.1 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 →
What stands out about Mabscott’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 Mabscott. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1913Beckley 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 Mabscott.
The story so far
Mabscott, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Mabscott yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Mabscott is a town in Raleigh County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 1,333 at the 2020 census. The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway built Beckley Station in what is now Mabscott. Later a new depot was built and the old Beckley Station was renamed Mabscott in 1907. Mabscott is named for Mabel Shinn Scott, wife of Cyrus Ellison Scott, a chemist who worked in the coal industry. Cyrus and Mabel were married in 1903 in Marion County, W.Va. Books and newspaper articles have erroneously cited Cyrus Hall Scott as the husband of Mabel Shinn Scott and source of the community name. Cyrus H. Scott was married to Fannie I. Logan and, after Fannie's death, to her sister Emma Crawford Logan.
Its first post office opened in 1904. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,408 to 1,341 (-5%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
The Mabscott post office opened in 1904, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Mabscott rank for history?
Mabscott is more historic than 26% 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 Mabscott?
22% of Mabscott’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.1 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via 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.
