Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Rivesville

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
George Pinkney Morgan HouseGeorge Pinkney Morgan House · Photo: Generic1139 · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · Rivesville

Rivesville’s post office opened in 1837, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the George Pinkney Morgan House. Below: maps from 1904 on and the census since 1860.

1837first post office
1on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Rivesville began

When was Rivesville founded?

1837

The Rivesville post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 54 in 18602020 census: 828189 years
Founding year: the first Rivesville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Rivesville’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Rivesville are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,700 in 1930; 828 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19045 editions of the USGS map, 1904 to 1997. Watch Rivesville change.Deep rootsA post office since 1837: 189 years of Rivesville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Rivesville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rivesville’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Rivesville, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,4001,6001,800190019502000Peak: 1,700

Peaked at 1,700 in 1930; 828 people lived here in 2020.

17 censuses, 1860–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rivesville’s Wikipedia page.

On the map

Rivesville on the map, 1904 to 1997

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rivesville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Rivesville on the 1904 USGS mapRivesville on the 1923 USGS mapRivesville on the 1960 USGS mapRivesville on the 1976 USGS mapRivesville on the 1997 USGS map1904Blacksville 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 Rivesville.

The story

How Rivesville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Rivesville.

Read it all →

The area was populated by some of the earliest settlers to the area, with the safety of Prickett's Fort sitting directly across the Monongahela River. David Morgan (frontiersman) moved there in 1772. That's also the location where he saved his family from an attack by Indians in 1778, based on a fevered dream he had, while recuperating from an illness at the fort. The house still stands there in Rivesville. Now known as the Morgan-Gold House, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

Rivesville was platted in 1837, and named after William Cabell Rives.

ChaptersFolklore

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Rivesville, 1837 to 1930

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1837Post officeThe Rivesville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1904On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 1,700
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the National Register

1 historic place in Rivesville

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2003
George Pinkney Morgan House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Greek Revival1
George Pinkney Morgan HouseGreek Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Rivesville

Nobody well known was born in Rivesville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Don KnottsAmerican actor and stand-up comedian · b. 1924
Joe ManchinAmerican politician and businessman · b. 1947
Mary Lou RettonAmerican gymnast · b. 1968
F
Frances Benjamin JohnstonAmerican photographer, photojournalist · b. 1864
David SelbyAmerican actor · b. 1941
Edgar AdamsAmerican numismatist and olympic diver and swim… · b. 1868
Places that used to be

Places now gone

Rivesville’s post office has been open since 1837.

Gone or out of use
Pentecostal Churchchurch

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Rivesville’s history

What year was Rivesville founded?

The Rivesville post office opened in 1837, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Rivesville?

One place: the George Pinkney Morgan House (listed 2003).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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) 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.