Founding year: the first Beech Island post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Beech Island’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Beech Island is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Beech Island’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 Beech Island’s 50.7 sits above most of its state (79% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 8 historic buildings outnumber those of 74% 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 (±6.0 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 Beech Island’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
According to tradition, the community was first named "Beech Highland" on account of its lofty elevation, and over time the H was dropped, causing the present name to be adopted.
Beech Island was primarily an agricultural community before the 1950s. Cotton, wheat, corn, and soybean were the major crops. This changed with the construction of Urquhart Station Power Station and the nearby Savannah River Nuclear Project. New highways were built to accommodate the workers commuting to the Nuclear Project. Commerce grew and the community began to change. In the 1960s Kimberly-Clark built a large manufacturing facility on what was once farmland, creating more jobs. The boom, however, was short-lived.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Beech Island. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1965Augusta East 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 Beech Island.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, old corners and places now gone
Beech Island had its own post office from 1873 to 1904.
Beech Island
1873–1904
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Savanna Town
Gone or out of use
Beech Island AcademyschoolFort MooremilitaryHazel Grove Schoolschool
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Beech Island’s history
What year was Beech Island founded?
The Beech Island post office opened in 1873, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Beech Island rank for history?
Beech Island is more historic than 48% 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 Beech Island?
4 listings: 3 buildings, among them the Redcliffe (listed 1973, the first), and 1 site. 8 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Beech Island?
6% of Beech Island’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.0 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 1972.
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 (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.
2017
