Abbeville dates to 1857, and 1 of its places is on the National Register
More historic than 39% of U.S. towns · #142 of 263 in Georgia. What drives it
Most of Abbeville was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1981. Its Register listing is the Wilcox County Courthouse. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1899 on, and the census since 1880.
Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1837.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Abbeville’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Abbeville is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns, #142 of 263 in Georgia. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Abbeville’s overall grade.
Georgia towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Georgia town has 10.0 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Abbeville’s 3.6 sits near the middle of its state (42% of Georgia towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to C+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.9 points). Two sources give 1857.
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 →
What stands out about Abbeville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost a third of its people between 1910 and 1970, then grew 3-fold.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Abbeville’s Wikipedia page.
Every building
Abbeville, building by building, 1899–1913
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.
1899Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone
Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Abbeville was founded in 1857 as seat of the newly formed Wilcox County. The town was incorporated in 1883. According to one tradition, the city was named after Abbie McNally, the wife of the original owner of the site, while another tradition states the name is a transfer from Abbeville, South Carolina.
During the Civil War, Confederate president Jefferson Davis camped at Abbeville on May 8, 1865 during his flight through Wilcox County at the end of the war, two nights before his capture by Union forces in Irwinville. The captured secretary was Francis R. Lubbock, a former governor of Texas, along with Confederate postmaster John H. Reagan, the last treasurer.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Abbeville’s post office has been open since 1860. Another post office, Adams, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Adams
1837–1871
Abbeville
1860–today
18301930today
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Abbeville
BowellRiversideStubbs
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Abbeville’s history
What year was Abbeville founded?
In 1857, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Abbeville’s post office opened in 1837, and the census of 1880 counted 61 people here.
How does Abbeville rank for history?
Abbeville is more historic than 39% of U.S. towns, #142 of 263 in Georgia. 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 Abbeville?
One place: the Wilcox County Courthouse (listed 1980).
How old are the homes in Abbeville?
10% of Abbeville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.9 points), against a typical 3.8% for a Georgia town; the median home was built in 1981.
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 (6), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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