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History · Branchville

Branchville’s post office opened in 1835, and 16% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Southern Railway Passenger Depot. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1982 on, and the census since 1870.

1835first post office
1on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Branchville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Branchville began

When was Branchville founded?

1835

The Branchville post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 366 in 18702020 census: 998191 years
Founding year: the first Branchville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Branchville’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,814 in 1920; 998 people lived here in 2020.Deep rootsA post office since 1835: 191 years of Branchville.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Branchville’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Branchville’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewBranchville - Main Street: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
People over time

Branchville, census by census

05001,0001,5002,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,814

Peaked at 1,814 in 1920; 998 people lived here in 2020.

16 censuses, 1870–2020.

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

Timeline

Branchville, 1835 to 1982

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1835Post officeThe Branchville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1902In the archiveBranchville - Main Street
  5. 1920CensusPopulation peaks at 1,814
  6. 1982On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
The story

How Branchville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Branchville.

Read it all →

The community was so named because a railroad branch began at the town site.

Branchville, located on the southern tip of Orangeburg County, is home to the world's oldest railroad junction. The junction was built in 1828 and ran from Charleston to Branchville and was on the route of the country's first scheduled train. For more than a century, Branchville's economy was based on railroad passenger service.

The Southern Railway Passenger Depot was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Branchville, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s2 items
Branchville - Main Streetc. 1902Branchville - Main StreetPostcardBranchville SC 19071907Branchville SC 1907Postcard
1910s–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

Branchville on the map, 1982 to 1990

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

Branchville on the 1982 USGS mapBranchville on the 1990 USGS map1982Branchville North 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 Branchville.

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.

Branchville - Main Street
Retake this viewBranchville - Main Street, c. 1902

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Branchville

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

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1973
Southern Railway Passenger Depot
Southern Railway Passenger Depot
Buildings
Southern Railway Passenger DepotBuilding

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

Questions about Branchville’s history

What year was Branchville founded?

The Branchville post office opened in 1835, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Branchville?

One place: the Southern Railway Passenger Depot (listed 1973).

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 (2), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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.