Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Old Fort

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 · Old Fort

Old Fort’s post office opened in 1826, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940

2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 11 buildings. Below: maps from 1918 on and the census since 1890.

1826first post office
2on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Old Fort began

When was Old Fort founded?

1826

The Old Fort post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Catawba Vale (1871), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 249 in 18902020 census: 811200 years
Founding year: the first Old Fort post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Old Fort’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 Old Fort are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1826: 200 years of Old Fort.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Old Fort’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Old Fort’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
Timeline

Old Fort, 1826 to 1962

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1826Post officeThe Old Fort post office opens
  3. 1871Post officeThe Catawba Vale post office opens
  4. 1873Post officeThe Catawba Vale post office closes
  5. 20th century
  6. 1906BuiltWelsford Parker Artz House is built
  7. 1933Born hereMarshall Lytle is born here
  8. 1938Born hereRobert Plemmons is born here
  9. 1960BuiltOld Fort Commercial Historic District is built
  10. 1962On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Old Fort came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Old Fort.

Read it all →

Before the arrival of European settlers, the area that is now Old Fort was populated by the Catawba and Cherokee. In the 1500s, Spanish explorers came through the area. English and Scottish settlers arrived in the area in the mid-1700s.

During the Revolutionary War, a stockade or fort was constructed on land owned by brothers George and Samuel Davidson, "the westernmost outpost of Colonial civilization". It was called Davidson's Fort and was the post for military expeditions such as that of Gen. Griffith Rutherford in 1776. The fort became a site for trading between settlers and Native Americans.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Old Fort, decade by decade

Today18 recent
Hillman's Brewery in Old Fort North Carolina Reopens after Hurricane Helene! car2024Hillman's Brewery in Old Fort North Carolina Reopens …2024 09 29 West NC 620242024 09 29 West NC 6Mill Creek Next To Hillman Brewery2023Mill Creek Next To Hillman BreweryHillman Brewery in Old Fort NC - interior2023Hillman Brewery in Old Fort NC - interiorHillman Brewery2022Hillman BreweryCatawba Avenue, Old Fort, NC Oct 20162016Catawba Avenue, Old Fort, NC Oct 2016Trickle - panoramio (1)2015Trickle - panoramio (1)Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Street intersection2014Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Street intersec…Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Plaque2014Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - PlaqueOld Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Plaque in Stones2014Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Plaque in StonesOld Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Old commercial row2014Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Old commercial …Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Frontier Fort2014Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Frontier FortOld Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Commercial Block 22014Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Commercial Bloc…Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Church2014Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - ChurchOld Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Brick buidling with faded lettering2014Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Brick buidling …Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Arrowhead 22014Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Arrowhead 2Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Arowhead Monument2014Old Fort, North Carolina April 2014 - Arowhead Monume…Blizzard in Old Fort, North Carolina, 20092010Blizzard in Old Fort, North Carolina, 2009
On the map

Old Fort on the map, 1962 to 1994

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

Old Fort on the 1962 USGS mapOld Fort on the 1994 USGS map1962Marion sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Old Fort.

Every building

Old Fort, building by building, 1918

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

Old Fort fire insurance map, 1918, sheet 11918Sheet 1 of 2
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

On the National Register

2 listings protect 12 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
12
each building in a district counts
first listed
1990
Welsford Parker Artz House
Welsford Parker Artz House, built 1906Old Fort Commercial Historic District, built 1960
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Colonial Revival1
Queen Anne1
Commercial Style1
Italianate1
Romanesque Revival1
Art Moderne1
Welsford Parker Artz HouseColonial Revival · Built 1906
Old Fort Commercial Historic DistrictCommercial Style · Built 1960

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

People over time

Old Fort, census by census

02004006008001,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 963

Between 249 and 963 people in every census since 1890.

14 censuses, 1890–2020.

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

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Old Fort

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

See all →
M
Marshall LytleAmerican double-bassist · b. 1933
Robert PlemmonsAmerican mathematician · b. 1938
Places that used to be

Lost post offices

Old Fort’s post office has been open since 1826. Another post office, Catawba Vale, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Old Fort
1826–today
Catawba Vale
1871–1873
18201920today

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

Questions about Old Fort’s history

What year was Old Fort founded?

The Old Fort post office opened in 1826, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Old Fort?

Two places: the Welsford Parker Artz House (listed 1990) and the Old Fort Commercial Historic District (2011).

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 Wikimedia Commons (18), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.