Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 9% of U.S. towns · #57 of 61 in West Virginia. What drives it
Most of Pleasant Valley was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1971. Below: maps from 1902 on and the census since 2000.
Pleasant Valley first appears in the census in 2000. Another post office, Benton's Ferry (1853), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
More historic than 9% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Pleasant Valley is more historic than 9% of U.S. towns, #57 of 61 in West Virginia. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
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 Pleasant Valley’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.
Founding year: the first census (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 Pleasant Valley’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pleasant Valley. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pleasant Valley.
Another post office, Benton's Ferry, 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).
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Pleasant Valley yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Pleasant Valley is a city in Marion County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 3,506 at the 2020 census.
Its first post office opened in 2000. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 3,149 to 3,498 (+11%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Between 3,124 and 3,506 people in every census since 2000.
3 censuses, 2000–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pleasant Valley’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in Pleasant Valley itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Pleasant Valley post office opened in 2000, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Pleasant Valley is more historic than 9% of U.S. towns, #57 of 61 in West Virginia. 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.
6% of Pleasant Valley’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.4 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1971.
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 (1), 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.
2004