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BHistory
History · Valdese

Valdese’s post office opened in 1893, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 57% of U.S. towns · #118 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it

5 places in town are on the National Register. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1956 on, and the census since 1930.

1893first post office
5on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
6famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Valdese’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Valdese began

When was Valdese founded?

1893

The Valdese post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,816 in 19302020 census: 4,689133 years

How historic is Valdese?

B

More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Valdese’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Valdese is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #118 of 290 in North Carolina. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Valdese’s overall grade.
Founding era1893, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194014.9% of homes (±5.4) · typical NC town 4.1% · U.S. 8.4%BNational Register5 listings, 7 historic buildings, 14.9 per 10,000 residents · typical NC town 12.5 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 57%
NewerOlder
North Carolina towns of 2,500+ (290)Ahead of 60%

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 Valdese’s 14.9 sits near the middle of its state (57% of North Carolina towns have fewer) while its 7 historic buildings outnumber those of 73% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C+ to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.4 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 Valdese’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

Landmarks on the Register5 places on the National Register.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

5 historic places in Valdese

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

places listed
5
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
7
each building in a district counts
first listed
1984
Valdese Elementary School
Valdese Elementary SchoolWaldensian Presbyterian ChurchJean-Pierre Auguste Dalmas HouseWaldensian Swiss Embroidery Company–Valdese Weavers, Inc. MillPineburr Hosiery Mill
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Colonial Revival1
Romanesque1
Gothic1
Waldensian1
Craftsman Influenced1
Valdese Elementary SchoolColonial Revival
Waldensian Presbyterian ChurchRomanesque
Jean-Pierre Auguste Dalmas HouseWaldensian
All 5 listings
Waldensian Swiss Embroidery Company–Valdese Weavers, Inc. MillBuilding · listed 2023Pineburr Hosiery MillBuilding · listed 2025

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

The story

How Valdese came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Valdese.

Read it all →

Settled in 1893 by a group of Waldensians from Northern Italy, the town was incorporated in 1920. The story of the town's founding is told in the outdoor drama From This Day Forward, which has been performed annually in Burke County since 1968.

In addition to Waldensian Presbyterian Church, the Jean-Pierre Auguste Dalmas House and Valdese Elementary School are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Valdese News, a newspaper serving Burke County, was published there from 1938 through 1950.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Valdese, 1893 to 1956

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1893Post officeThe Valdese post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1920In the archive(Power House, Hosiery Mill, and Box Factory, Valdese, N. C.)
  5. 1925Born hereGeorge Shuffler is born here
  6. 1938Born hereDoug Cline is born here
  7. 1943Born hereStanley Pons is born here
  8. 1943Born hereBill Cline is born here
  9. 1950In the archiveThe Impersonator [1950]
  10. 1956On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Valdese, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1920s to the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1920s–1950s6 items
(Power House, Hosiery Mill, and Box Factory, Valdese, N. C.)c. 1920(Power House, Hosiery Mill, and Box Factory, Valdese,…Valdese High School, Valdese, N. Cc. 1920Valdese High School, Valdese, N. CThe Impersonator [1950]1950The Impersonator [1950]Impersonator [1951]1951Impersonator [1951]Impersonator [1952]1952Impersonator [1952]Impersonator [1952]1952Impersonator [1952]
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
On the map

Valdese on the map, 1956 to 2002

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

Valdese on the 1956 USGS mapValdese on the 1993 USGS mapValdese on the 2002 USGS map1956Valdese 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 Valdese.

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.

(Power House, Hosiery Mill, and Box Factory, Valdese, N. C.)
Retake this view(Power House, Hosiery Mill, and Box Factory, Valdese, N. C.), c. 1920

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Valdese, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,000194019601980200020204,689

Grew from 1,816 people in 1930 to 4,689 in 2020.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Famous people

6 famous people were born in Valdese

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

See all →
S
Stanley PonsAmerican scientist · b. 1943
G
George ShufflerAmerican bluegrass guitar player · b. 1925
Doug ClineAmerican football player · b. 1938
B
Bill ClineAmerican gridiron football player · b. 1943
M
Mark K. HiltonChristian Conservative politician · b. 1966
T
Tyler ShatleyAmerican football player · b. 1991
Places that used to be

Old corners and places now gone

Valdese’s post office has been open since 1893.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Rutherford College
Gone or out of use
Rutherford Collegeschool

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

Help out

Finish Valdese’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old view(Power House, Hosiery Mill, and Box Fac…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Rutherford CollegeIts storyCDrexelIts storyC

Questions about Valdese’s history

What year was Valdese founded?

The Valdese post office opened in 1893, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Valdese rank for history?

Valdese is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #118 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 Valdese?

5 listings: 5 buildings, among them the Valdese Elementary School (listed 1984, the first). 7 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Valdese?

15% of Valdese’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.4 points), against a typical 4.1% for a North Carolina town; the median home was built in 1968.

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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (5), 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.