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A−History
History · Cheraw

11% of Cheraw’s homes were built before 1940

More historic than 78% of U.S. towns · #30 of 169 in South Carolina. What drives it

4 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 46 buildings between them. Below: 17 old photos and papers, maps from 1888 on, and the census since 1880.

4on the National Register
11%homes built before 1940
17old photos & papers
13famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Cheraw’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

About Cheraw’s history

How historic is Cheraw?

A−

More historic than 78% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Cheraw’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Cheraw is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #30 of 169 in South Carolina. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

A−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Cheraw’s overall grade.
Founding eraNo founding year we can rely on, so the grade uses the other two–Homes built before 194010.8% of homes (±4.4) · typical SC town 3.5% · U.S. 8.4%B−National Register4 listings, 48 historic buildings, 96.8 per 10,000 residents · typical SC town 3.2 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 78%
NewerOlder
South Carolina towns of 2,500+ (169)Ahead of 83%

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 Cheraw’s 96.8 sits above most of its state (84% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 48 historic buildings outnumber those of 85% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on two of the three inputs, so a change in either one moves the letter more than it would with three. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.4 points).

Founding year: our sources. 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 Cheraw’s past

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

Then and nowOne place photographed years apart. Drag to compare.Mapped building by building7 fire insurance maps, 1888 to 1923, drew every building in Cheraw.A historic districtThe Cheraw Historic District takes in 39 historic buildings.A town in postcards17 old photos, postcards and papers, 1897–1940.
★ What stands out · Then & now

The same spot, years apart

Drag across each photo to compare.

St. David's Episcopal Church and CemeteryCheraw - St. David's Episcopal Church 2c. 1915Today
Cheraw - St. David's Episcopal Church 2Matched from the two captions
Every building

Cheraw, building by building, 1888–1923

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.

Cheraw fire insurance map, 1888, sheet 11888Sheet 1 of 1
Edition
Sheets
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

On the National Register

4 listings protect 48 historic buildings

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

places listed
4
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
48
each building in a district counts
first listed
1971
St. David's Episcopal Church and Cemetery
St. David's Episcopal Church and Cemetery, built 1770Cheraw Historic DistrictSmalls, Robert, SchoolCoulter Memorial Academy Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Classical Revival1
Queen Anne1
Colonial Cottage1
Greek Revival1
Colonial1
St. David's Episcopal Church and CemeteryBuilt 1770
Cheraw Historic DistrictClassical Revival
Smalls, Robert, SchoolBuilding
All 4 listings
Coulter Memorial Academy Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2022

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

The story

How Cheraw came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Cheraw.

Read it all →

When the first Europeans arrived in the area it was inhabited by the Cheraw and Pee Dee American Indian tribes. The Cheraw lived near the waterfall hill, near present-day Cheraw, but by the 1730s they had been devastated by new infectious disease inadvertently carried by the European traders. Survivors joined the Catawba Confederacy for safety and left their name in history. A few European settlers entered the area around Cheraw town in the 1730s, and were then forced upriver when the Welsh came to claim the Welsh Baptist lands granted by the English government in the area around Society Hill. Many of the early settlers of the 1740s in Cheraw were ethnic English, Scots, French Huguenots, or Scots-Irish.

ChaptersOriginsAmerican RevolutionEarly 19th centuryCivil War20th century to present

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Cheraw, 1770 to 1989

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

  1. 18th century
  2. 1770BuiltSt. David's Episcopal Church and Cemetery is built
  3. 1794Post officeThe Cheraw post office opens
  4. 19th century
  5. 1800Post officeThe Chatham post office opens
  6. 1821Post officeThe Chatham post office closes
  7. 1870Born hereWilliam P. Pollock is born here
  8. 1897In the archiveCornelius Kollock, M.D
  9. 20th century
  10. 1909In the archivePostcard of Market Street, Cheraw, S.C
  11. 1910In the archiveCheraw - Hotel Covington
  12. 1917Born hereDizzy Gillespie is born here
  13. 1931In the archiveCheraw - St. David's Episcopal Church
  14. 1940In the archiveCheraw - U.S. Post Office
  15. 1942On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  16. 1953Born hereDavid Thornton is born here
  17. 1989Born hereCliff Matthews is born here
By decade

Cheraw, decade by decade

5 decades in the archive, from the 1890s to the 1940s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1890s–1910s6 items
Cornelius Kollock, M.D1897Cornelius Kollock, M.DPostcard of Market Street, Cheraw, S.C1909Postcard of Market Street, Cheraw, S.CPostcardCheraw - Hotel Covingtonc. 1910Cheraw - Hotel CovingtonPostcardCheraw - Chiquoia Club and Hotel Covington1915Cheraw - Chiquoia Club and Hotel CovingtonPostcardCheraw - St. David's Episcopal Church 2c. 1915Cheraw - St. David's Episcopal Church 2PostcardSouth Carolina1917South Carolina
1930s–1940s11 items
Cheraw - St. David's Episcopal Church1931Cheraw - St. David's Episcopal ChurchPostcardPalmetto church still frequented by white congregation at the Sandhills agricultural demonstration project. Near Cheraw…1936Palmetto church still frequented by white congregatio…Cheraw - U.S. Post Officec. 1940Cheraw - U.S. Post OfficePostcardHistoric American Buildings Survey, C.O. Greene, Photographer May 28, 1940 FRONT ELEVATION. - Old Equity Court, Market …1940Historic American Buildings Survey, C.O. Greene, Phot…Historic American Buildings Survey, C.O. Greene, Photographer May 28, 1940 FRONT ELEVATION. - Pegues-McKay House, Kersh…1940Historic American Buildings Survey, C.O. Greene, Phot…Historic American Buildings Survey, C.O. Greene, Photographer May 28, 1940 GENERAL VIEW. - Masonic Hall, Market and Sec…1940Historic American Buildings Survey, C.O. Greene, Phot…Historic American Buildings Survey, C.O. Greene, Photographer May 28, 1940 VIEW FROM STREET. - Pegues-McKay House, Kers…1940Historic American Buildings Survey, C.O. Greene, Phot…Historic American Buildings Survey, Delos H. Smith, Photographer May 29, 1940 GENERAL LAFAYETTE DELIVERED AN ADDRESS FR…1940Historic American Buildings Survey, Delos H. Smith, P…Historic American Buildings Survey, Delos H. Smith, Photographer May 29, 1940. - Duvall House, 226 Third Street, Cheraw…1940Historic American Buildings Survey, Delos H. Smith, P…Historic American Buildings Survey, Delos H. Smith, Photographer May 29, 1940. - H. E. Sessions House, State Route 9, C…1940Historic American Buildings Survey, Delos H. Smith, P…Historic American Buildings Survey, Delos H. Smith, Photographer May 29, 1940. - Tom McLaurin House, State Route 382, C…1940Historic American Buildings Survey, Delos H. Smith, P…
1950s–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

Cheraw on the map, 1942 to 1983

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

Cheraw on the 1942 USGS mapCheraw on the 1971 USGS mapCheraw on the 1983 USGS map1942Rockingham sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cheraw.

People over time

Cheraw, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5006,0006,50018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 5,851

Between 918 and 5,851 people in every census since 1880.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Famous people

13 famous people were born in Cheraw

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Dizzy GillespieAmerican jazz trumpeter · b. 1917
David ThorntonAmerican actor · b. 1953
William P. PollockAmerican politician · b. 1870
Cliff MatthewsPlayer of American football · b. 1989
Patrick Nieson Lynch BellingerUnited States Admiral · b. 1885
D
Dale HatcherAmerican football player · b. 1963
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Cheraw’s post office has been open since 1794. Another post office, Chatham, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Cheraw
1794–today
Chatham
1800–1821
17901910today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Isgett Circle
Gone or out of use
Chapman Training SchoolschoolCoulter Memorial AcademyschoolSaint Peters SchoolschoolTabernacle Baptist Churchchurch
1cemetery inside Cheraw
Saint Davids

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Cheraw’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
4 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewCornelius Kollock, M.D: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Cheraw’s history

How does Cheraw rank for history?

Cheraw is more historic than 78% of U.S. towns, #30 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.

What is on the National Register in Cheraw?

4 listings: 2 buildings, among them the St. David's Episcopal Church and Cemetery (listed 1971, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Cheraw Historic District and the Coulter Memorial Academy Historic District, with 46 contributing buildings. 48 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Cheraw?

11% of Cheraw’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.4 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 1970.

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).

From Wikimedia Commons (16), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (4), 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.