Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Antony-22 · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 85% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Its Register listings are the Manor, The, the Grant County Courthouse and the Hermitage Motor Inn. Below: maps from 1920 on and the census since 1880.
Petersburg dates its founding to 1745 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 85% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Petersburg is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its share of homes from before 1940 lowest.
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 Petersburg’s 29.4 sits near the middle of its state (62% of West Virginia towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 →
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 Petersburg’s history is told.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Born hereJoan Banks is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyFrom Wikipedia’s history of Petersburg.
Petersburg was founded circa 1745 by Jacob Peterson, who owned the area's first merchandising store.
In the 1830 United States census, the population center of the United States was recorded as being about 9 miles southwest of the town.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
2020Park Motel Petersburg 2020
2020New Grant County Courthouse 2020b
2020New Grant County Courthouse 2020a
2020Hermitage Motor Inn 2020c
2020Hermitage Motor Inn 2020b
2020Hermitage Motor Inn 2020a
2020Grant County Public Library and Arts Center 2020
2020Grant County Bank Petersburg 2020
2020Flowers of Petersburg 2020
2011TaylorCunninghamHotel2
2011TaylorCunninghamHotel1
2004WVMap-doton-PetersburgThe U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Petersburg.
1920Petersburg sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Petersburg.
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 268 and 2,467 people in every census since 1880.
12 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Petersburg’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Petersburg’s post office has been open since 1874. Another post office, Luneys Creek, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1745, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Petersburg’s post office opened in 1826, and the census of 1880 counted 268 people here.
Petersburg is more historic than 85% 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.
Three places: the Manor, The (listed 1975), the Grant County Courthouse (1979) and the Hermitage Motor Inn (1986).
12% of Petersburg’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.9 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1976.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (3), Wikipedia, 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.
