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BHistory
History · Clinton

Clinton dates to 1852, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 57% of U.S. towns · #54 of 169 in South Carolina. What drives it

Most of Clinton was built recently: 9% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1969. 2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 8 buildings. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1860.

1852founded
2on the National Register
9%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
9famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Clinton’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Clinton began

When was Clinton founded?

1852

Clinton dates its founding to 1852 (Wikidata). The census first counted it in 1860.

First census: 197 in 18602020 census: 7,633174 years

How historic is Clinton?

B

More historic than 57% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1832.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Clinton’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Clinton is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #54 of 169 in South Carolina. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Clinton’s overall grade.
Founding era1852, from Wikidata: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19408.7% of homes (±3.8) · typical SC town 3.5% · U.S. 8.4%C+National Register2 listings, 41 historic buildings, 53.4 per 10,000 residents · typical SC town 3.2 · U.S. 2.4A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 57%
NewerOlder
South Carolina towns of 2,500+ (169)Ahead of 68%

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 Clinton’s 53.4 sits above most of its state (80% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 41 historic buildings outnumber those of 84% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.8 points). Two sources give 1852.

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 →

What stands out about Clinton’s past

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

Mapped building by building7 fire insurance maps, 1884 to 1922, drew every building in Clinton.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers.Famous sons and daughtersCheron K. Griffin, Chick Galloway and 7 more were born here.
★ What stands out · Every building

Clinton, building by building, 1884–1922

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.

Clinton fire insurance map, 1884, sheet 11884Sheet 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.

By decade

Clinton, decade by decade

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

1900s12 items
Clinton - Presbyterian College of South Carolina (1907)1907Clinton - Presbyterian College of South Carolina (190…PostcardClinton - Presbyterian College of South Carolinac. 1907Clinton - Presbyterian College of South CarolinaPostcardClinton - Broad Street, looking northc. 1908Clinton - Broad Street, looking northPostcardClinton - Thornwell Orphanagec. 1908Clinton - Thornwell OrphanagePostcardA few of the employees in the Clinton Mills, going home from work. Many others as small were in evidence. Supt.... - NA…1908A few of the employees in the Clinton Mills, going ho…A row of houses of the cotton mill people. Lydia Mills, Clinton, S.C. Witness, Sara R. Hine. Dec. 2, 1908. L.W.H. LOC n…1908A row of houses of the cotton mill people. Lydia Mill…A row of houses of the cotton mill people. Lydia Mills. Clinton, S.C1908A row of houses of the cotton mill people. Lydia Mill…A few of the youngsters employed1908A few of the youngsters employedPresbyterian College (new building)1908Presbyterian College (new building)A row of houses of the cotton mill people. Lydia Mills1908A row of houses of the cotton mill people. Lydia MillsView of Clinton Mills (S.C.) Superintendent would not allow me to take photos in mill. Many youngsters employed. See ph…1908View of Clinton Mills (S.C.) Superintendent would not…A few of the employees in the Clinton Mills1908A few of the employees in the Clinton Mills
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
Famous people

9 famous people were born in Clinton

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

See all →
C
Cheron K. GriffinAmerican politician · b. 1789
Chick GallowayAmerican baseball player · b. 1896
C
Clay BennettAmerican cartoonist · b. 1958
C
Charlie WilsonAmerican baseball player · b. 1905
Rufus Hollis GauseAmerican theologian · b. 1925
Thornwell JacobsRefounder of Oglethorpe University · b. 1877
The story

How Clinton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Clinton.

Read it all →

The Cherokee Indians were Clinton's original inhabitants. The first settler to inhabit the area was John Duncan, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, who arrived in 1752 from Pennsylvania and settled along a creek between the present-day towns of Clinton and Whitmire.

Scots-Irish immigrants from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia became the predominant settlers in the area in the two decades before the American Revolutionary War and took active part in a Revolutionary War battle in 1780 at nearby Musgrove Mill.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Clinton in 1924

Passages that mention Clinton, cut from the printed page as they were published.

chain of Providence that bound him to his life service in Laurens County. He accepted an invitation from Rev. Zelotes Holmes to preach in Clinton on July 13, 1862. This was the opening of the door to a half century of service in Clinton, upon which service rested the blessing of Almighty God and fr…
The Story of Thornwell Orphanage, Clinton, South Carolina, 1875-19251924Read the page →
Read the text

chain of Providence that bound him to his life service in Laurens County. He accepted an invitation from Rev. Zelotes Holmes to preach in Clinton on July 13, 1862. This was the opening of the door to a half century of service in Clinton, upon which service rested the blessing of Almighty God and from which the worker himself drew great joy. Of that first sermon

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
his great works . If we forget for the moment his career as builder and pastor, its doing his memory no more than simple justice to say that in all the years he was in secular concerns a foremost citizen of Clinton. That an obscure village that 60 years ago was no better in morals or aspiration tha…
The Story of Thornwell Orphanage, Clinton, South Carolina, 1875-19251924Read the page →
Read the text

his great works . If we forget for the moment his career as builder and pastor, its doing his memory no more than simple justice to say that in all the years he was in secular concerns a foremost citizen of Clinton. That an obscure village that 60 years ago was no better in morals or aspiration than it should have been, just a little station on a little railroad in the country, not unlike dozens of others in South Carolina, has ex-

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Clinton, 1789 to 1971

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

  1. 18th century
  2. 1789Born hereCheron K. Griffin is born here
  3. 19th century
  4. 1832Post officeThe Holland's Store post office opens
  5. 1833Post officeThe Holland's Store post office closes
  6. 1852
    FoundingClinton is established
  7. 1854Post officeThe Clinton post office opens
  8. 1896Born hereChick Galloway is born here
  9. 20th century
  10. 1905Born hereCharlie Wilson is born here
  11. 1907In the archiveClinton - Presbyterian College of South Carolina (1907)
  12. 1958Born hereClay Bennett is born here
  13. 1971On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Clinton on the map, 1971 to 1986

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

Clinton on the 1971 USGS mapClinton on the 1986 USGS map1971Clinton 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 Clinton.

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.

Clinton - Presbyterian College of South Carolina (1907)
Retake this viewClinton - Presbyterian College of South Carolina (1907), 1907

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

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 listings protect 41 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
41
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
Thornwell-Presbyterian College Historic District
Thornwell-Presbyterian College Historic DistrictClinton Commercial Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Georgian Revival1
Richardsonian Romanesque1
Neoclassical1
Queen Anne1
Victorian1
Art Moderne1
Thornwell-Presbyterian College Historic DistrictGeorgian Revival
Clinton Commercial Historic DistrictVictorian

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

People over time

Clinton, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,000190019502000Peak: 8,596

Between 197 and 8,596 people in every census since 1860.

16 censuses, 1860–2020.

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

Places that used to be

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

Clinton’s post office has been open since 1854. Another post office, Holland's Store, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Holland's Store
1832–1833
Clinton
1854–today
18301930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
DoverLydia Mills
Gone or out of use
Academy Street SchoolschoolFlorida Street SchoolschoolHays HospitalhospitalProvidence Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Clinton
Rosemont

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

Help out

Finish Clinton’s story

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewClinton - Presbyterian College of South…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Clinton’s history

What year was Clinton founded?

In 1852, according to Wikidata. Clinton’s post office opened in 1832, and the census of 1860 counted 197 people here.

How does Clinton rank for history?

Clinton is more historic than 57% of U.S. towns, #54 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 Clinton?

Two places: the Thornwell-Presbyterian College Historic District (listed 1982) and the Clinton Commercial Historic District (2020).

How old are the homes in Clinton?

9% of Clinton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.8 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 1969.

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 (7), the Library of Congress (5), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.