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C+History
History · New Haven

New Haven’s post office opened in 1864, and 19% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 36% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1908 on and the census since 1940.

1864first post office
0on the National Register
19%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How New Haven began

When was New Haven founded?

1864

The New Haven post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 606 in 19402020 census: 1,476162 years

How historic is New Haven?

C+

More historic than 36% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first New Haven post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives New Haven’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, New Haven is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of New Haven’s overall grade.
Founding era1864, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194018.7% of homes (±11.0) · typical WV town 13.0% · U.S. 8.4%B+National RegisterNo listings counted · typical WV town 29.6 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 36%
NewerOlder

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 New Haven’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 (±11.0 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 New Haven’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of New Haven are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19087 editions of the USGS map, 1908 to 1994. Watch New Haven change.Old housesHalf of New Haven’s homes were built before 1960.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start New Haven’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how New Haven’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the map

New Haven on the map, 1908 to 1994

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

New Haven on the 1908 USGS mapNew Haven on the 1926 USGS mapNew Haven on the 1958 USGS mapNew Haven on the 1968 USGS mapNew Haven on the 1975 USGS mapNew Haven on the 1987 USGS mapNew Haven on the 1994 USGS map1908Ravenswood 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 New Haven.

The story so far

New Haven, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of New Haven yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

New Haven is a town in Mason County, West Virginia, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 1,485 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Point Pleasant, WV–OH Micropolitan Statistical Area. The town was named after New Haven, Connecticut, the native home of the local mine proprietors.

Its first post office opened in 1864. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,560 to 1,476 (-5%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

New Haven, 1864 to 1908

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1864Post officeThe New Haven post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1901Born hereHerman Layne is born here
  5. 1908On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
Add from your album
People over time

New Haven, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,6001,80019401960198020002020Peak: 1,723

Between 606 and 1,723 people in every census since 1940.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New Haven’s Wikipedia page.

Questions about New Haven’s history

What year was New Haven founded?

The New Haven post office opened in 1864, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does New Haven rank for history?

New Haven is more historic than 36% 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 New Haven?

19% of New Haven’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±11.0 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1960.

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).

From 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) 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.