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Christian Allemong HouseChristian Allemong House · Photo: Gketner · CC BY-SA 4.0
–Not graded
History · Middleway

Middleway’s post office opened in 1806, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 49 buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers and maps from 1914 on.

1806first post office
1on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
5old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Middleway’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Middleway began

When was Middleway founded?

1806

The Middleway post office opened in 1806, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 482220 years
Founding year: the first Middleway post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Middleway’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A historic districtThe Middleway Historic District takes in 49 historic buildings.On the map since 19144 editions of the USGS map, 1914 to 1971. Watch Middleway change.Deep rootsA post office since 1806: 220 years of Middleway.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

1 listing protects 49 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
49
each building in a district counts
first listed
1980
Middleway Historic District
Middleway Historic District
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Vernacular1
Middleway Historic DistrictVernacular

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

On the map

Middleway on the map, 1914 to 1971

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Middleway. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Middleway on the 1914 USGS mapMiddleway on the 1944 USGS mapMiddleway on the 1955 USGS mapMiddleway on the 1971 USGS map1914Martinsburg 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 Middleway.

Timeline

Middleway, 1806 to 1933

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1806Post officeThe Middleway post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1902In the archiveGrace Church rectory, Middleway, W.V
  5. 1905Post officeThe Middleway post office closes
  6. 1914On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1933In the archiveGilbert Stone House
The story

How Middleway came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Middleway.

Read it all →

On January 15, 1786, the Virginia General Assembly passed an act establishing the town of Smithfield on land owned by John Smith II and William Smith. A post office was established in 1806; and since there was another town called Smithfield in the state, a different name was needed to avoid confusion. Because Smithfield had become a center of commerce between several other towns, the post office became known as "Middleway." Middleway remains a small village and retains many of its historic buildings. The Middleway Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Middleway, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1930s5 items
Grace Church rectory, Middleway, W.V1902Grace Church rectory, Middleway, W.VGrace Episcopal Church, Middleway, W.V1902Grace Episcopal Church, Middleway, W.VRev. James Grammer1902Rev. James GrammerGilbert Stone House1933Gilbert Stone HouseGrantham House1933Grantham House
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today1 recent
Grace street312003Grace street31
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Grace Church rectory, Middleway, W.V
Retake this viewGrace Church rectory, Middleway, W.V, 1902

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Middleway’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Middleway had its own post office from 1806 to 1905.

Middleway
1806–1905
18001910today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Middleway’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewGrace Church rectory, Middleway, W.V: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Middleway’s history

What year was Middleway founded?

The Middleway post office opened in 1806, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Middleway?

One place: the Middleway Historic District (listed 1980).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.