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History · Chesnee

Chesnee’s post office opened in 1910, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 1 buildings. Below: 18 old photos and papers, maps from 1959 on, and the census since 1920.

1910first post office
1on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
18old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Chesnee’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Chesnee began

When was Chesnee founded?

1910

The Chesnee post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 600 in 19202020 census: 829116 years
Founding year: the first Chesnee post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Chesnee’s past

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

A town in old photos18 old photos, postcards and papers, 1937–1989.Boom and bustPeaked at 1,280 in 1990; 829 people lived here in 2020.Old housesHalf of Chesnee’s homes were built before 1962.
★ What stands out · By decade

Chesnee, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1930s to the 1980s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s17 items
Sharecropper boy, Chesnee, South Carolina, 8b320961937Sharecropper boy, Chesnee, South Carolina, 8b32096Sharecropper boy, Chesnee, South Carolina, 8b320961937Sharecropper boy, Chesnee, South Carolina, 8b32096Sharecropper boy. Chesnee, South Carolina1937Sharecropper boy. Chesnee, South CarolinaSharecropper boy. Chesnee, South Carolina1937Sharecropper boy. Chesnee, South CarolinaSharecropper family near Chesnee, South Carolina1937Sharecropper family near Chesnee, South CarolinaSharecropper boy near Chesnee, South Carolina1937Sharecropper boy near Chesnee, South CarolinaYoung sharecropper at Chesnee, South Carolina1937Young sharecropper at Chesnee, South CarolinaSharecropper boy near Chesnee, South Carolina1937Sharecropper boy near Chesnee, South CarolinaSharecropper family near Chesnee, South Carolina1937Sharecropper family near Chesnee, South CarolinaGrandmother of sharecropper family near Chesnee, South Carolina1937Grandmother of sharecropper family near Chesnee, Sout…Well and old plantation smokehouse. Chesnee, South Carolina1937Well and old plantation smokehouse. Chesnee, South Ca…Home of sharecropper family near Chesnee, South Carolina1937Home of sharecropper family near Chesnee, South Carol…Sharecropper wife and mother of seven children. Near Chesnee, South Carolina1937Sharecropper wife and mother of seven children. Near …Son of sharecropper family at work in the cotton near Chesnee, South Carolina1937Son of sharecropper family at work in the cotton near…Oldest son of a sharecropper family working in the cotton. Chesnee, South Carolina1937Oldest son of a sharecropper family working in the co…Grandmother of fifty-six children, mother of fourteen, ten living. Near Chesnee, South Carolina1937Grandmother of fifty-six children, mother of fourteen…Grandfather of fifty-six children. Chesnee, South Carolina. He left a 300 acre farm in the North Carolina mountains whe…1937Grandfather of fifty-six children. Chesnee, South Car…
1940s–1970snothing 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
1980s1 item
5 May 1989 Chesnee tornado damage19895 May 1989 Chesnee tornado damage
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
People over time

Chesnee, census by census

02004006008001,0001,2001,400192019401960198020002020Peak: 1,280

Peaked at 1,280 in 1990; 829 people lived here in 2020.

11 censuses, 1920–2020.

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

The story

How Chesnee came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Chesnee.

Read it all →

In the early 20th century, the Chesnee Land Company bought a sizeable acreage at what is now Chesnee. A leading member of the company was John B. Cleveland of Spartanburg. Cleveland named the company - and later the town - after his great-grandmother, Margaret Chesnee, who was born in Scotland. She married Alexander Vernon, also born in Scotland. The Clinchfield Railroad ran an excursion train over the newly laid rails to Spartanburg on October 23, 1909.

The Chesnee post office was established in 1910, and the town was chartered in 1911. Early businesses included a hotel, pharmacy, cotton mill, and lumber mill.

The Cowpens National Battlefield and Zeno Hicks House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Chesnee, 1910 to 1990

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

  1. 20th century
  2. 1910Post officeThe Chesnee post office opens
  3. 1937In the archiveSharecropper boy, Chesnee, South Carolina, 8b32096
  4. 1959On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1989In the archive5 May 1989 Chesnee tornado damage
  6. 1990CensusPopulation peaks at 1,280
On the map

Chesnee on the map, 1959 to 1993

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

Chesnee on the 1959 USGS mapChesnee on the 1975 USGS mapChesnee on the 1983 USGS mapChesnee on the 1993 USGS map1959Cowpens sheet · 1:62,500

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

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.

Sharecropper boy, Chesnee, South Carolina, 8b32096
Retake this viewSharecropper boy, Chesnee, South Carolina, 8b32096, 1937

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 historic place in Chesnee

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
1989
Zeno Hicks House
Zeno Hicks House
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Central-chimney I House1
Vernacular1
Zeno Hicks HouseCentral-chimney I House

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

Famous people

Famous people close to Chesnee

Nobody well known was born in Chesnee itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Andie MacDowellAmerican actress · b. 1958
C
Celia WestonAmerican actress · b. 1951
L
Lee HaneyAmerican bodybuilder · b. 1959
S
Sam GraddyAmerican football player · b. 1964
David DanielsAmerican opera singer · b. 1966
Gina TollesonMiss World 1990, 1st runner-up to Miss USA 1990 · b. 1969
Help out

Finish Chesnee’s story

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSharecropper boy, Chesnee, South Caroli…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Chesnee’s history

What year was Chesnee founded?

The Chesnee post office opened in 1910, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Chesnee?

One place: the Zeno Hicks House (listed 1989).

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 (3), the Library of Congress (15), 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.