The Pax post office opened in 1914, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Paintsville (1905), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 608 in 19302020 census: 136112 years
Founding year: the first Pax post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
What stands out about Pax’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Pax yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Pax is a town in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States. The current mayor of Pax is William Hughes. The population was 136 at the 2020 census. The community most likely derives its name from nearby Packs Branch creek.
Its first post office opened in 1914. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 167 to 136 (-19%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
On the map
Pax on the map, 1914 to 1996
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pax. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1914Eccles 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 Pax.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Pax in 1926
Passages that mention Pax, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The first name given to this place was Paintsville, but a little later the name was changed to Pax. It can be said of Pax today that it has the best school and best school facilities of any town of its size in the county. It has a large modern, commodious, well equipped eight-room brick school building used for junior and Senior high schools, and on the same lot a large six-room frame ‘school building for the grades. The school is well patronized. The upper grades from surrounding schools attend here where they
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Pax was incorporated in 1920 and the following have served as mayors: W. C. Ayers, H. E. Woolwine, and J. E. Williams. Pax has a population of about 600 people.
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.
Timeline
Pax, 1905 to 1914
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 (2), 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.
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