Most of Allendale was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Its Register listings are the Allendale County Courthouse and the Allendale Training School. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1910 on, and the census since 1900.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Allendale is more historic than 31% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Allendale’s overall grade.
South Carolina towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical South Carolina town has 3.2 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Allendale’s 18.8 sits above most of its state (71% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 5 historic buildings outnumber those of 70% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.5 points).
Founding year: the first census (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 Allendale’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Allendale has various historic properties including National Register of Historic Places listings in Allendale County, South Carolina. These include Allendale County Courthouse, Antioch Christian Church, Erwin House, Gravel Hill Plantation, Red Bluff Flint Quarries, Roselawn, and Smyrna Baptist Church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The artist Jasper Johns lived in Allendale during his childhood in the 1930s and 1940s. He was raised there by his grandfather, a farmer, and then with his aunt, the only teacher in a two-room school.
In his 2015 book entitled Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads, author Paul Theroux describes Allendale as a "ghost town", "poor, neglected, hopeless-looking, a vivid failure."
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.
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.
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 year, then a sheet.
The Allendale post office opened in 1900, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Allendale rank for history?
Allendale is more historic than 31% 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 Allendale?
Two places: the Allendale County Courthouse (listed 2007) and the Allendale Training School (2022).
How old are the homes in Allendale?
6% of Allendale’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.5 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 1974.
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), Wikidata (1), 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.
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