Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to New London

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 · New London

New London dates to 1830, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1980 on and the census since 1890.

1830founded
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How New London began

When was New London founded?

1830

New London dates its founding to 1830 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1890.

First census: 317 in 18902020 census: 607196 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1826.The full story ↓

What stands out about New London’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 New London are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages2 post offices opened and closed inside today’s New London.Deep rootsEstablished in 1830: 196 years of New London.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start New London’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how New London’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
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

New London’s post office has been open since 1891. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Kendall's Store
1826–1878
Bilesville
1878–1891
New London
1891–today
18201920today

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Timeline

New London, 1826 to 1980

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1826Post officeThe Kendall's Store post office opens
  3. 1830
    FoundingNew London is established
  4. 1878Post officeThe Kendall's Store post office closes
  5. 1878Post officeThe Bilesville post office opens
  6. 1891Post officeThe Bilesville post office closes
  7. 1891Post officeThe New London post office opens
  8. 20th century
  9. 1949Born hereDonald Byrd is born here
  10. 1980On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How New London came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of New London.

Read it all →

New London was founded as the unincorporated settlement of Bilesville, north of Albemarle, circa 1830, and named after Thomas "Uncle Tommy" Biles, a local landowner and farmer. At the time, the land was part of Montgomery County until Stanly County was formed in 1841. Near the area where the first Carolina Gold Rush took place, gold was found near Bilesville and the first mine was opened in 1859, though it closed during the Civil War. When the New London & States Company purchased the mine to reopen it in the early 1870s, and at the suggestion of company executive W. A. Judd, the settlement voted to rename itself after the company. The settlement became officially incorporated as a town on March 25, 1891. The main gold mine, known as the Parker Mine (after the farmer on whose land it was discovered) ceased operation in 1894, though several other local industries continued to provid…

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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

New London on the map, 1980 to 1993

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

New London on the 1980 USGS mapNew London on the 1993 USGS map1980New London 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 New London.

People over time

New London, census by census

01002003004005006001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 607

Between 223 and 607 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Questions about New London’s history

What year was New London founded?

In 1830, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. New London’s post office opened in 1826, and the census of 1890 counted 317 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.