Ravenswood’s post office opened in 1839, and 2 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns · #26 of 61 in West Virginia. What drives it
Most of Ravenswood was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1965. 2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 313 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1870.
The Ravenswood post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Elford (1922) and North Ravenswood (1923), opened inside today’s city and later closed.
First census: 362 in 18702020 census: 3,865187 years
How historic is Ravenswood?
A−
More historic than 79% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Ravenswood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Ravenswood’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Ravenswood is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns, #26 of 61 in West Virginia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Ravenswood’s overall grade.
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 Ravenswood’s 825 sits above most of its state (91% of West Virginia towns have fewer) while its 316 historic buildings outnumber those of 95% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (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 →
What stands out about Ravenswood’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Ravenswood is sited on land once owned by George Washington. Washington acquired the 2,448-acre (10 km2) parcel in 1770, and designated Colonel William Crawford to survey the lands in 1771. A permanent settlement was first established in 1810, and the town streets and lots were laid out in their current pattern by descendants of Washington in 1835. The first town election was held in the home of Bartholomew Fleming in 1840. Ravenswood was incorporated in 1852.
During the American Civil War, the 1863 Battle of Buffington Island took place one mile (1.6 km) north of Ravenswood. In 1886, the Ohio River Rail Road reached Ravenswood.
Passages that mention Ravenswood, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The slaughter of the Pfost-Greene family of Jackson County, W. Va.1897 · page 95Read the page →
Read the text
Green, who expiated his crime on the scaffold, Friday, July 12, 1850, for the murder of Timothy Fox, on the 24th day of July of the preceding year, in Park's Lane, about one mile above the town of Ravenswood, on the Ohio River. Both men had disembarked from a steamboat that had been compelled to lay up at Buffington's Island on account of low water. Neither the murderer nor his victim was a resident of Jackson County. It was one of the most unprovoked murders, an account of which is re-
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
Ravenswood, 1839 to 1934
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings 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 Ravenswood. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1908Ravenswood 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 Ravenswood.
Every building
Ravenswood, building by building, 1893–1909
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The Ravenswood post office opened in 1839, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Ravenswood rank for history?
Ravenswood is more historic than 79% of U.S. towns, #26 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.
What is on the National Register in Ravenswood?
Two places: the Lemley-Wood-Sayre House (listed 1985) and the Ravenswood "Old Town" Historic District (2007).
How old are the homes in Ravenswood?
6% of Ravenswood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.6 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1965.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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