Its Register listings are the James S. Lakin House, the Terra Alta Bank and the Terra Alta First United Methodist Church. Its Register listings are the James S. Lakin House, the Terra Alta Bank and the Terra Alta First United Methodist Church. Below: old-book passages.
The Terra Alta post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Saltlick Falls (1849), Portland (1860) and Cranberry (1880), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 1,415143 years
How historic is Terra Alta?
B+
More historic than 71% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Terra Alta post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Terra Alta’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Terra Alta is more historic than 71% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Terra Alta’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 Terra Alta’s 16.3 sits near the middle of its state (56% of West Virginia towns have fewer) while its 3 listings outnumber those of 65% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±10.0 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 Terra Alta’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Terra Alta was originally called Portland, and under the latter name had its start in the 1850s. The present name Terra Alta is derived from Latin meaning "high land". According to the 1876 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad map, Terra Alta had a railroad station called Cranberry Station.
The town is home to the James S. Lakin House and Terra Alta Bank, each listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Terra Alta United Methodist Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in July 2022. The church was designed by architect John Charles Fulton.
Passages that mention Terra Alta, cut from the printed page as they were published.
A History of Preston County, West Virginia1914 · page 786Read the page →
Read the text
He was recorder of the town of Terra Alta since 1911. Has been member of that council since 191 3. Was assistant postmaster, 1903-04; was secretary of Brandonville & Terra Alta Telephone Company six years; secretary and manager of Aurora, Oakland and Terra Alta Telephone Company four years, and besides a mercantile experience of two years in a store at Guseman, has had other experiences that peculiarly fit him for an official in public life.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A History of Preston County, West Virginia1914Read the page →
Read the text
Keyser, Piedmont, Terra Alta, Grafton, Clarksburg and Fairmont took their places as business centers. When capital was forthcoming, ne'w lines of railroad were built to reach the coal ,oil and lumber regions of the State. Among these roads, many of which are now embraced in the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad System, were the Northwestern Virginia Railroad, from Grafton through Clarksburg to Parkersburg; the West Virginia and Pittsburgh Railroad, from Clarksburg to Richwood ; the' 'Monongahela Railroad from Fairmont to Clarks-
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
Terra Alta, 1849 to 1883
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Questions about Terra Alta’s history
What year was Terra Alta founded?
The Terra Alta post office opened in 1883, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Terra Alta rank for history?
Terra Alta is more historic than 71% 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.
What is on the National Register in Terra Alta?
Three places: the James S. Lakin House (listed 1997), the Terra Alta Bank (1997) and the Terra Alta First United Methodist Church (2022).
How old are the homes in Terra Alta?
35% of Terra Alta’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±10.0 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1964.
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 (3), 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.
