Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Ellenboro

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Ellenboro

Ellenboro dates to 1880, and 17% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1966 on and the census since 1900.

1880founded
0on the National Register
17%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Hyelton · CC BY 3.0
Quick answers

How Ellenboro began

When was Ellenboro founded?

1880

Ellenboro dates its founding to 1880 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1900.

First census: 172 in 19002020 census: 723146 years
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1886.The full story ↓

What stands out about Ellenboro’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Ellenboro are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Ellenboro’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Ellenboro came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Ellenboro.

Read it all →

In 1880, the Seaboard Air Line Railroad built a line from Wilmington to Rutherfordton. At the highest point on that line, the town of Ellenboro sprang up. In 1884, as the community of 179 people was trying to decide on a name for the town, Seaboard engineer John Robinson proposed that it be named for his daughter, Ellen, who was dying of a fever. In return, Robinson donated a large brass bell to the town. The bell hung for many years in the school, but disappeared some time after a new school building was built.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Ellenboro, 1880 to 1966

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1880
    FoundingEllenboro is established
  3. 1886Post officeThe Ellenboro post office opens
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902Born hereMartin D. Whitaker is born here
  6. 1966On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your album
On the map

Ellenboro on the map, 1966 to 2002

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Ellenboro. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Ellenboro on the 1966 USGS mapEllenboro on the 1993 USGS mapEllenboro on the 2002 USGS map1966Forest City 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 Ellenboro.

People over time

Ellenboro, census by census

02004006008001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 873

Between 172 and 873 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Questions about Ellenboro’s history

What year was Ellenboro founded?

In 1880, according to Wikidata. Ellenboro’s post office opened in 1886, and the census of 1900 counted 172 people here.

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 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) 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.