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CHistory
History · Horse Shoe

Horse Shoe’s post office opened in 1878, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 28% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Most of Horse Shoe was built recently: 2% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1985. Its Register listing is the Arthur W. Moore House. Its Register listing is the Arthur W. Moore House. Below: maps from 1935 on.

1878first post office
1on the National Register
2%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Horse Shoe began

When was Horse Shoe founded?

1878

The Horse Shoe post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 2,430148 years

How historic is Horse Shoe?

C

More historic than 28% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Horse Shoe post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade

What drives Horse Shoe’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Horse Shoe is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Horse Shoe’s overall grade.
Founding era1878, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19402.3% of homes (±2.6) · typical NC town 4.1% · U.S. 8.4%C−National Register1 listing, 6.7 per 10,000 residents · typical NC town 12.5 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 28%
NewerOlder

North Carolina towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical North Carolina town has 12.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Horse Shoe’s 6.7 sits near the middle of its state (49% of North Carolina 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 (±2.6 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (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 Horse Shoe’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 Horse Shoe are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Horse Shoe’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Horse Shoe’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 so far

Horse Shoe, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Horse Shoe yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Horse Shoe is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Henderson County, North Carolina, United States. Its ZIP code is 28742. As of the 2020 census, Horse Shoe had a population of 2,430. The community took its name from a nearby meander in the French Broad River.

Its first post office opened in 1878. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 2,351 to 2,430 (+3%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Horse Shoe, 1878 to 1941

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1878Post officeThe Horse Shoe post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1935On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1941Born hereCecil Gordon is born here
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

Horse Shoe on the map, 1935 to 1991

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

Horse Shoe on the 1935 USGS mapHorse Shoe on the 1942 USGS mapHorse Shoe on the 1965 USGS mapHorse Shoe on the 1978 USGS mapHorse Shoe on the 1991 USGS map1935Horse Shoe 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 Horse Shoe.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Horse Shoe

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
2001
Arthur W. Moore House
Arthur W. Moore House
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Craftsman1
All 1 listings
Arthur W. Moore HouseBuilding · listed 2001

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.

Etowah1 historic placeCMills River1 historic placeD

Questions about Horse Shoe’s history

What year was Horse Shoe founded?

The Horse Shoe post office opened in 1878, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Horse Shoe rank for history?

Horse Shoe is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns. 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 Horse Shoe?

One place: the Arthur W. Moore House (listed 2001).

How old are the homes in Horse Shoe?

2% of Horse Shoe’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.6 points), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 1985.

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).

From the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.