Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Harewood · Photo: Acroterion · CC BY-SA 4.0More historic than 33% of U.S. towns · #45 of 61 in West Virginia. What drives it
Its Register listing is the Charles Town Mining, Manufacturing, and Improvement Company Building. Most of Ranson corporation was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1998. Below: maps from 1914 on.
More historic than 33% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ranson corporation is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #45 of 61 in West Virginia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Ranson corporation’s 1.7 sits near the middle of its state (38% of West Virginia towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: our sources. 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 Ranson corporation’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ranson corporation. 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 Ranson corporation.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Ranson corporation yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 4,440 to 5,433 (+22%).
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
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.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
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.
Ranson corporation is more historic than 33% of U.S. towns, #45 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.
One place: the Charles Town Mining, Manufacturing, and Improvement Company Building (listed 2001).
6% of Ranson corporation’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.9 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1998.
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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
