Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns. What drives it
2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 143 buildings. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1902 on, and the census since 1880.
Shinnston dates its founding to 1778 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 94% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Shinnston is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its National Register listings ranks highest and its age lowest.
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 Shinnston’s 612 sits above most of its state (86% of West Virginia towns have fewer) while its 144 historic buildings outnumber those of 91% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 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.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Shinnston’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Shinnston. 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 Shinnston.
From Wikipedia’s history of Shinnston.
Shinnston was settled during the Revolutionary War period by members of the Quaker Shinn family. Levi Shinn built a log house in 1778 that is the oldest house in Harrison County. The settlement developed along the West Fork River, where early mills supported the surrounding agricultural economy. Levi and Asa Shinn began laying out the town in 1815.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Shinnston, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The first child bom in the new settlement was Asa Shinn. The Act of the Legislature establishing the town of Shinnston passed January 22, 1818, enacted. That the lots and streets as already laid off on the lands of Asa and Levi Shinn on the West Fork of the Monongahela river in the County of Harrison, be established a towTti by the name of Shinnston, and that John Righter, Davis Wamsley, Samuel Shinn, J ohn D. Lucas, Benjamin Wood, Joseph Wilson and Jeremiah Roby, Gentlemen, be and they are
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
of the family and others from New Jersey had taken residence. In 1778 we find him in Harrison County, Virginia, blazing with his axe the domain which was to be under his tomahawk right and near which the town of Shinnston now stands. After this he returned to Hopewell for his family. His description of the Country so pleased his friends and relatives that many of them determined to move.
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.
Born hereBathsheba W. Smith is born here
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereLarry Brown is born here
In the archiveShinnston High School - 1967One decade in the archive so far: the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Shinnston’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 289 and 3,059 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Shinnston’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Shinnston’s post office has been open since 1820.
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.
In 1778, according to Wikidata. Shinnston’s post office opened in 1820, and the census of 1880 counted 289 people here.
Shinnston is more historic than 94% of U.S. towns. 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.
Two places: the Levi Shinn House (listed 1973) and the Shinnston Historic District (1998).
28% of Shinnston’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.4 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1961.
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 (8), 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 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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