Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 97% of U.S. towns · #4 of 61 in West Virginia. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them the Weston State Hospital, a National Historic Landmark, and two historic districts with 251 buildings between them. Below: 11 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1860.
Weston dates its founding to 1818 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1860.
More historic than 97% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Weston is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns, #4 of 61 in West Virginia. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 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 Weston’s 661 sits above most of its state (87% of West Virginia towns have fewer) while its 254 historic buildings outnumber those of 94% 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. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.
★ Landmark
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Weston’s post office has been open since 1820. Another post office, Preston, opened and closed inside today’s town.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
1894Sheet 1 of 3Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Weston.
Weston was founded in 1818 as Preston; the name was changed to Fleshersville soon after, and then to Weston in 1819. The city was incorporated in 1846.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Passages that mention Weston, cut from the printed page as they were published.
On 10 April 1889 the Weston and West Fork and the Clarksburg, Weston and Glenville railroads were merged into the Clarksburg, Weston and Midland railroad, which allowed stockholders live per cent of the stock held in either of the companies. The announcement went forth from the offices of the new company that the merger was only prelimmary to the changing of the narrow gauge railroad from Weston to Clarksburg into a
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Weston became the center of the new railroad system. The principal offices and shops of the companywere established there to the great improvement and benefit of the town. The railroad company determined to erect at Weston a station befitting the importance of the town selected for its principal offices, and a contract was let the same year to William Lockhart and Jacob and Singleton Atcheson for the construction of a stone
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 hereWilliam Thomas Bland is born here
In the archiveRev. William Hullihen Burkhardt
In the archiveWeston, West Virginia 1900
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
Born hereRush Holt Sr. is born here
In the archiveMain Avenue, Looking South
Born hereRush D. Holt, Jr. is born here
Born hereJason Koon is born here
In the archiveWest Fork River4 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Weston. 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 Weston.
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 Weston’s page.
Retake this view · +15Peaked at 8,945 in 1950; 3,952 people lived here in 2020.
17 censuses, 1860–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Weston’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1818, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Weston’s post office opened in 1818, and the census of 1860 counted 820 people here.
Weston is more historic than 97% of U.S. towns, #4 of 61 in West Virginia. 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.
6 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Weston State Hospital (a National Historic Landmark since 1990), 2 historic districts, the Weston Downtown Historic District and the Weston Downtown Residential Historic District, with 251 contributing buildings, and 1 site. 254 historic buildings in all.
38% of Weston’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.8 points), against a typical 13% for a West Virginia town; the median home was built in 1953.
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 (17), the Library of Congress (1), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) 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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