Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns. What drives it
1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 190 buildings. Below: 6 old photos and papers from 1986 on.
The Buffalo post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name.
More historic than 69% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Buffalo is more historic than 69% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age 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 Buffalo’s 1,430 sits above most of its state (100% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 190 historic buildings outnumber those of 93% of U.S. towns.
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 →
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.
From Wikipedia’s history of Buffalo.
The community was named for a nearby mineral lick which attracted buffalo.
The Buffalo Mill Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
One decade in the archive so far: the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1986Buffalo Cotton Textile Mill, Mill Building, SC Route …
1986EAST (FRONT) FACADE, LOOKING NORTHWEST - Buffalo Cott…
1986EAST (FRONT) FACADE, SOUTH TOWER - Buffalo Cotton Tex…
1986EAST (FRONT) FACADE, TOWERS - Buffalo Cotton Textile …
1986INTERIOR, MACHINERY - Buffalo Cotton Textile Mill, Mi…
1986INTERIOR, MACHINERY - Buffalo Cotton Textile Mill, Mi…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 Buffalo’s page.
Retake this view · +15Nobody well known was born in Buffalo itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Buffalo’s post office has been open since 1902.
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.
The Buffalo post office opened in 1902, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Buffalo is more historic than 69% 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.
One place: the Buffalo Mill Historic District (listed 1990).
24% of Buffalo’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±15.8 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 1967.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
