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C+History
History · Lillington

Lillington’s post office opened in 1874, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 36% of U.S. towns · #161 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it

Most of Lillington was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2005. Its Register listing is the Summerville Presbyterian Church and Cemetery. Below: 1 old photo or paper, maps from 1978 on, and the census since 1880.

1874first post office
1on the National Register
8%homes built before 1940
1old photo or paper
4famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Lillington’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Lillington began

When was Lillington founded?

1874

The Lillington post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 98 in 18802020 census: 4,735152 years

How historic is Lillington?

C+

More historic than 36% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Lillington post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Lillington’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Lillington is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #161 of 290 in North Carolina. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Lillington’s overall grade.
Founding era1874, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19408.1% of homes (±4.5) · typical NC town 4.1% · U.S. 8.4%C+National Register1 listing, 2.1 per 10,000 residents · typical NC town 12.5 · U.S. 2.4B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 36%
NewerOlder
North Carolina towns of 2,500+ (290)Ahead of 45%

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 Lillington’s 2.1 sits near the middle of its state (41% 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 is a Census survey estimate (±4.5 points). 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 Lillington’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 1 old photo is in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1880 and 1900, then grew more than tenfold.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Lillington’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Lillington’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 viewLillington - Hotel: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Lillington, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0001880190019201940196019802000202098 in 1880Low: 65

Lost a third of its people between 1880 and 1900, then grew more than tenfold.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

The story

How Lillington came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Lillington.

Read it all →

A post office called Lillington has been in operation since 1874. The town was originally called Harnett Court House. The town of Lillington is named for John Alexander Lillington (circa 1725–1786), aka Alexander John Lillington, who was a Patriot officer from North Carolina in the American Revolutionary War, notably fighting in the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge in 1776 and serving as brigadier general in the state militia.

The Summer Villa and the McKay-Salmon House and Summerville Presbyterian Church and Cemetery are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Lillington, 1848 to 2020

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1848BuiltSummerville Presbyterian Church and Cemetery is built
  3. 1874Post officeThe Lillington post office opens
  4. 1894Born herePaul Green is born here
  5. 20th century
  6. 1925Born hereRobert Burren Morgan is born here
  7. 1950In the archiveLillington - Hotel
  8. 1954Born hereSteve R. Allen is born here
  9. 1978On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  10. 21st century
  11. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 4,735
By decade

Lillington, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1950s1 item
Lillington - Hotelc. 1950Lillington - Hotel
1960s–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
Today8 recent
Lillington, North Carolina 032019Lillington, North Carolina 03Lillington, North Carolina 022019Lillington, North Carolina 02Lillington, North Carolina 012019Lillington, North Carolina 01Western Harnett High School2016Western Harnett High SchoolLillington, NC2011Lillington, NCHarnett County Courthouse2011Harnett County CourthouseHarnett County Courthouse (cropped)2011Harnett County Courthouse (cropped)Southern caboose - December 20092009Southern caboose - December 2009
On the map

Lillington on the map, 1978 to 1997

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

Lillington on the 1978 USGS mapLillington on the 1987 USGS mapLillington on the 1997 USGS map1978Lillington 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 Lillington.

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.

Lillington - Hotel
Retake this viewLillington - Hotel, c. 1950

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Lillington

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
1985
Summerville Presbyterian Church and Cemetery
Summerville Presbyterian Church and Cemetery, built 1848
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Vernacular1
Summerville Presbyterian Church and CemeteryVernacular · Built 1848

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

Famous people

4 famous people were born in Lillington

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Paul GreenAmerican playwright · b. 1894
Paul S. AtkinsAmerican government official
Robert Burren MorganAmerican politician · b. 1925
Steve R. AllenAmerican painter · b. 1954

Questions about Lillington’s history

What year was Lillington founded?

The Lillington post office opened in 1874, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Lillington rank for history?

Lillington is more historic than 36% of U.S. towns, #161 of 290 in North Carolina. 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 Lillington?

One place: the Summerville Presbyterian Church and Cemetery (listed 1985).

How old are the homes in Lillington?

8% of Lillington’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 2005.

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 Wikimedia Commons (9), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.