Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns · #36 of 169 in South Carolina. What drives it
Most of Bishopville was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. 11 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 59 buildings between them. Below: 6 old photos and papers, maps from 1909 on, and the census since 1880.
Bishopville dates its founding to 1786 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1880.
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bishopville is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #36 of 169 in South Carolina. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
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 Bishopville’s 247 sits above most of its state (94% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 72 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% of U.S. towns.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 →
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
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.
1909Sheet 2 of 2Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
From Wikipedia’s history of Bishopville.
Bishopville was known as Singleton's Crossroads for more than a decade before it was renamed in honor of Jacques Bishop. The 465 acres (1.88 km2) of land had been granted to Jacob Chamber by the state of South Carolina in 1786. Daniel Carter later purchased the property and then sold it to William Singleton in 1790.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In the archiveStirrup Branch Plantation, Bishopville, S.C., on the 75th birthday of Capt. James Rembert…
In the archiveBishopville - National Bank
Born hereHenry E. Brown is born here
In the archiveBishopville - Street scene
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
In the archiveOreswamp4 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bishopville.
1986Camden South sheet · 1:100,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bishopville.
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bishopville’s page.
Retake this view · +15Between 144 and 3,670 people in every census since 1880.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bishopville’s Wikipedia page.
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Bishopville’s post office has been open since 1824.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
In 1786, according to Wikidata. Bishopville’s post office opened in 1824, and the census of 1880 counted 144 people here.
Bishopville is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #36 of 169 in South 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.
11 listings: 9 buildings, among them the Lee County Courthouse (listed 1981, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Bishopville Commercial Historic District and the South Main Historic District, with 59 contributing buildings. 72 historic buildings in all.
3% of Bishopville’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 1980.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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), the Library of Congress (2), Wikidata (6), the National Register of Historic Places (11), 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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