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History · Sylvester

Sylvester’s post office opened in 1941

Most of Sylvester was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1956. Below: maps from 1911 on and the census since 1960.

1941first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Brian Stansberry · CC BY 4.0
Quick answers

How Sylvester began

When was Sylvester founded?

1941

The Sylvester post office opened in 1941, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 316 in 19602020 census: 17185 years
Founding year: the first Sylvester post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Sylvester’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 Sylvester are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 19116 editions of the USGS map, 1911 to 1996. Watch Sylvester change.Old housesHalf of Sylvester’s homes were built before 1956.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Sylvester’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Sylvester on the map, 1911 to 1996

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

Sylvester on the 1911 USGS mapSylvester on the 1929 USGS mapSylvester on the 1931 USGS mapSylvester on the 1965 USGS mapSylvester on the 1976 USGS mapSylvester on the 1996 USGS map1911Peytona 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 Sylvester.

The story so far

Sylvester, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Sylvester yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Sylvester is a town in Boone County, West Virginia, United States, along the Big Coal River. The population was 166 at the 2020 census. Sylvester was incorporated on April 11, 1952, by the Boone County Circuit Court. Sylvester bears the name of a family of settlers. Before Sylvester was settled, it was the location of the Coal River Golf Club, which had a nine-hole golf course, picnic ground, tennis courts, and facilities for swimming and fishing. After World War II, the site was laid out for residential development by a local businessman, and became known as the Branham Addition of Whitesville. That name is still seen on the deeds for the homes built in Sylvester. Other than nearby Whitesv…

Its first post office opened in 1941. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 160 to 171 (+7%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

Sylvester, decade by decade

Today4 recent
Sylvester-houses-wv2018Sylvester-houses-wvSylvester-Faith-Free-Will-Baptist-wv2018Sylvester-Faith-Free-Will-Baptist-wvSylvester-Community-Center-Post-Office-wv2018Sylvester-Community-Center-Post-Office-wvSylvester-Church-of-God-wv2018Sylvester-Church-of-God-wv
People over time

Sylvester, census by census

01002003001960198020002020Peak: 316

Between 160 and 316 people in every census since 1960.

7 censuses, 1960–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Places now gone

Sylvester’s post office has been open since 1941.

Gone or out of use
Sylvester Elementary Schoolschool

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

Questions about Sylvester’s history

What year was Sylvester founded?

The Sylvester post office opened in 1941, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 Wikimedia Commons (4), 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.