The story
Read it all →How Earl came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Earl.
Earl incorporated in 1889, and was named for local landowner Abel Earl.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Earl
Earl’s post office opened in 1895, and 25% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1909 on and the census since 1980.
1895first post office
0on the National Register
25%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Earl began
When was Earl founded?
1895
The Earl post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Erwinsville (1813), Earl Station (1888) and Pearl (1889), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 206 in 19802020 census: 198131 years
Founding year: the first Earl post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Earl’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Earl’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Earl’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Places that used to be
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Earl’s post office has been open since 1895. Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Erwinsville
Earl Station
Pearl
Earl
18101920today
Gone or out of use
Earl Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Earl
Fairview African Methodist Episcopal Zion ChurchNew Hope Baptist Church
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Earl, 1813 to 1909
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1813Post officeThe Erwinsville post office opens
- 1888Post officeThe Earl Station post office opens
- 1889Post officeThe Pearl post office opens
- 1894Post officeThe Erwinsville post office closes
- 1895Post officeThe Earl Station post office closes
- 20th century
- 1904Post officeThe Pearl post office closes
- 1909
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade
Earl, decade by decade
2021
2021
2004On the map
Earl on the map, 1909 to 1976
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Earl. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1909Gaffney sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Earl.
People over time
Earl, census by census
Between 198 and 260 people in every census since 1980.
5 censuses, 1980–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Earl’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Earl
Nobody well known was born in Earl itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Questions about Earl’s history
What year was Earl founded?
The Earl post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 (3), 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.