The story
Read it all →How Fallston came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Fallston.
Fallston was settled in the 1880s and incorporated in 1893, and named for John Z. Falls, Sheriff of Cleveland County.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Fallston
Fallston’s post office opened in 1886, and 34% of its homes were built before 1940
Its Register listing is the Stamey Company Store. Below: maps from 1986 on and the census since 1970.
1886first post office
1on the National Register
34%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Fallston began
When was Fallston founded?
1886
The Fallston post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 301 in 19702020 census: 627140 years
Founding year: the first Fallston post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Fallston’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 Fallston’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Fallston’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.By decade
Fallston, decade by decade
2021
2021
2021
2021
2021
2019
2004On the map
Fallston on the map, 1986 to 2002
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Fallston. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1986Gastonia sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Fallston.
On the National Register
1 historic place in Fallston
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
2019
Stamey Company Store
Buildings
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
People over time
Fallston, census by census
Grew from 301 people in 1970 to 627 in 2020.
6 censuses, 1970–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Fallston’s Wikipedia page.
Famous people
See all →Famous people close to Fallston
Nobody well known was born in Fallston itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Questions about Fallston’s history
What year was Fallston founded?
The Fallston post office opened in 1886, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What is on the National Register in Fallston?
One place: the Stamey Company Store (listed 2019).
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 (7), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.