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History · Dillsboro

Dillsboro dates to 1882, and 23% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Mount Beulah Hotel and the Elias Brendle Monteith House and Outbuildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1978 on, and the census since 1900.

1882founded
2on the National Register
23%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Dillsboro’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Dillsboro began

When was Dillsboro founded?

1882

Dillsboro dates its founding to 1882 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1900.

First census: 279 in 19002020 census: 213144 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1888.The full story ↓

What stands out about Dillsboro’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost two-thirds of its people between 1940 and 1990, then more than doubled.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Dillsboro’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Dillsboro’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewWilliam Allen Dills, founder of: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Dillsboro, census by census

01002003001900192019401960198020002020290 in 1940Low: 95

Lost two-thirds of its people between 1940 and 1990, then more than doubled.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Dillsboro’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Dillsboro came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Dillsboro.

Read it all →

Dillsboro was founded when the Murphy Branch Railroad came to the area in the 1880s. In 1882, the first post office in the area opened. Called the Tunnel Post Office, it was named after the nearby Cowee Tunnel. In 1882, the postmaster, William Allen Dills, built a large home on a hill overlooking the Tuckasegee River, later the home of Charles Joseph Harris and now The Riverwood Shops. The unincorporated village was called Depot, New Webster, and Webster Station until the state legislature had its name officially changed to Dillsboro when the village was incorporated as a town in 1889 to honor William Allen Dills, the town's founder (another source names George W. Dill, an early settler.) Railroad executive Alexander Boyd Andrews suggested the town be named Dillsboro.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Dillsboro, 1882 to 1978

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1882
    FoundingDillsboro is established
  3. 1888Post officeThe Dillsboro post office opens
  4. 1890In the archiveWilliam Allen Dills, founder of
  5. 20th century
  6. 1910BuiltMount Beulah Hotel is built
  7. 1940CensusPopulation peaks at 290
  8. 1968In the archiveVIEW OF EAST PORTAL - North Carolina Route 1392 Bridge, Spanning Tuckaseegee River
  9. 1978On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Dillsboro, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s1 item
William Allen Dills, founder of1890William Allen Dills, founder of
1900s–1950snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
1960s1 item
VIEW OF EAST PORTAL - North Carolina Route 1392 Bridge, Spanning Tuckaseegee River1968VIEW OF EAST PORTAL - North Carolina Route 1392 Bridg…
1970s–1990snothing yet
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.
Add from your album
Today15 recent
Greystone Lodge2018Greystone LodgeGreystone Lodge2018Greystone LodgeGreystone Lodge2018Greystone LodgeGreystone Lodge2018Greystone LodgeFront Street2018Front StreetEnloe House2018Enloe HouseEnloe House and Harris Clay Company Building2018Enloe House and Harris Clay Company BuildingCabin, Squire Watkins Inn2018Cabin, Squire Watkins InnCabin, Squire Watkins Inn2018Cabin, Squire Watkins InnBrownie's Grave Marker2018Brownie's Grave MarkerBell, Dillsboro Methodist Church2018Bell, Dillsboro Methodist ChurchRobo Car Wash, Sylva, NC2017Robo Car Wash, Sylva, NCDillsboroFestival2007DillsboroFestival2004 Flood at the Dillsboro Powerhouse20042004 Flood at the Dillsboro PowerhouseSnow in Hazel Hollow2003Snow in Hazel Hollow
On the map

Dillsboro on the map in 1978

The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Dillsboro.

Dillsboro on the 1978 USGS map1978Greens Creek sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Dillsboro.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

William Allen Dills, founder of
Retake this viewWilliam Allen Dills, founder of, 1890

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Dillsboro’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Dillsboro

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
10
each building in a district counts
first listed
1984
Mount Beulah Hotel
Mount Beulah Hotel, built 1910Elias Brendle Monteith House and Outbuildings
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Victorian1
Craftsman1
Mount Beulah HotelVictorian · Built 1910
Elias Brendle Monteith House and OutbuildingsCraftsman

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Sylva3 historic placesB

Questions about Dillsboro’s history

What year was Dillsboro founded?

In 1882, according to Wikidata. Dillsboro’s post office opened in 1888, and the census of 1900 counted 279 people here.

What is on the National Register in Dillsboro?

Two places: the Mount Beulah Hotel (listed 1984) and the Elias Brendle Monteith House and Outbuildings (2008).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 Wikimedia Commons (17), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.