The Valley Bend post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Bradford (1900), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 470160 years
Founding year: the first Valley Bend post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
What stands out about Valley Bend’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Valley Bend yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Valley Bend is a census-designated place (CDP) in Randolph County, West Virginia, United States. Valley Bend is located on U.S. routes 219 and 250, as well as state routes 55 and 92, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) northwest of Mill Creek. Valley Bend has a post office with ZIP code 26293. As of the 2020 census, its population was 470 (down from 485 at the 2010 census). The community was named for a nearby meander in the Tygart Valley River.
Its first post office opened in 1866. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 485 to 470 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
On the map
Valley Bend on the map, 1909 to 1995
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Valley Bend. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1909Elkins 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 Valley Bend.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Valley Bend, 1898–1916
Passages that mention Valley Bend, cut from the printed page as they were published.
The history of Randolph County, West Virginia. From its earliest settlement to the present, embracing records of all the leading families, reminiscences and traditions ..1898 · page 314Read the page →
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In September of the same year a church was organized at Faulkner, with twelve members. From 1880 to 1890 Rev. Potts preached to a small congregation near Valley Bend, but no church was built. METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH. The first Minister of the M. P. Church in Randolph, as far as known, was James Chambers, who is shown by the court records to have been authorized in 1848 to solemnize marriages. The records kept by the church are the merest fragments. From that source it is learned that the follow-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
A history of Randolph County, West Virginia, from its earliest exploration and settlement to the present time1916 · page 246Read the page →
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the bare earth. Puncheon seats, no blackboard and few slates, goose quill pens; pupils reading or spelling aloud. A constant supply of hickory gads to enforce discipline. Such was the first school attended by the writer in Valley Bend District in 1866. Swiss Colony at Alpena.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The history of Randolph County, West Virginia. From its earliest settlement to the present, embracing records of all the leading families, reminiscences and traditions ..1898 · page 308Read the page →
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house, he approached near enough to see that Indians were murdering the inmates, and being unable to render any assistance, he fled to Tygart's, and that family immediately set out for the South Branch, following an Indian trail which led from Valley Bend across the mountain by the way of Pishing Hawk. It is not known whether the Indians proceeded up the valley to Tygart's cabin. That massacre occurred in a time of peace, when the Indians were supposed to be friendly. They were in the habit of visiting the settlements along the South Branch and in the Valley of Virginia, from
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
Valley Bend, 1866 to 1909
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
