After the Civil War, Ben Brown and other newly freed slaves founded a community first called Egypt and then Bethel. About 1881, it became known as Proffit when the Virginia Midland Railway placed a stop there, encouraging further development between 1890 and 1916 by white landowners who built along Proffit Road. Important reminders of Proffit’s Black heritage include Evergreen Baptist Church, built in 1891, and several houses constructed by the Brown and Flannagan families in the 1880s. The district was listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register in 1998 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.