Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 67 buildings. Below: maps from 1910 on and the census since 1910.
The Pratt post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Dego (1882), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
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 Pratt’s history is told.
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.
Peaked at 821 in 1980; 483 people lived here in 2020.
12 censuses, 1910–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Pratt’s Wikipedia page.
From Wikipedia’s history of Pratt.
The Pratt Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Until its incorporation in 1905, the town was known as Clifton. It was renamed Pratt after the owner of the Charles Pratt Coal Company, Charles Pratt. Many of the structures built by that company, including the miners' clubhouse for and various company houses are still standing.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Pratt, cut from the printed page as they were published.
PRATT The town of Pratt, W. Va., was originally laid out in 1850 under the name of Clifton and incorporated June 4, 1905. The railroad station is known as Paint Creek Junction. The early owner of the site was Dickinson Morris, who was a son of James Morris, original owner of the land on which Handley was laid out.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Pratt is the terminus of the Paint creek branch of the C. & O. Railroad, which extends up Paint creek twenty-two miles to Kingston.
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.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pratt. 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 Pratt.
Nobody well known was born in Pratt itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Pratt’s post office has been open since 1901. Another post office, Dego, 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).
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Pratt post office opened in 1901, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
One place: the Pratt Historic District (listed 1984).
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.
