History · Hollywood

Hollywood’s post office opened in 1950, and 1 of its places is on the National Register

More historic than 15% of U.S. towns · #116 of 169 in South Carolina. What drives it

Most of Hollywood was built recently: 3% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2003. Below: maps from 1919 on and the census since 1950.

1950first post office

1on the National Register

3%homes built before 1940

1famous people

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Quick answers

How Hollywood began

When was Hollywood founded?

1950

The Hollywood post office opened in 1950, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 246 in 19502020 census: 5,33976 years

How historic is Hollywood?

More historic than 15% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: the first Hollywood post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

History grade

What drives Hollywood’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Hollywood is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #116 of 169 in South Carolina. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its age pulls it down.

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Hollywood’s overall grade.

Founding era1950, from the first post office: founded 1945 or later, an older era than 2% of U.S. townsD⁻Homes built before 19402.5% of homes (±2.4) · typical SC town 3.5% · U.S. 8.4%C⁻National Register1 listing, 1.9 per 10,000 residents · typical SC town 3.2 · U.S. 2.4B⁻

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 15%

NewerOlder

South Carolina towns of 2,500+ (169)Ahead of 32%

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 Hollywood’s 1.9 sits near the middle of its state (50% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C. The pre-1940 share (±2.4 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

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 →

What stands out about Hollywood’s past

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

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Hollywood are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.A National Historic Landmark1 place on the National Register, including Stono River Slave Rebellion Site, a National Historic Landmark.Lost villages4 hamlets and corners are still on the map.On the map since 19194 editions of the USGS map, 1919 to 1971. Watch Hollywood change.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Hollywood’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

On the National Register

1 historic place in Hollywood

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. One is a National Historic Landmark, the highest tier.

place listed

National Historic Landmark

Stono River Slave Rebellion Site

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1974

Stono River Slave Rebellion Site

Sites★ landmark

★ Landmark

Stono River Slave Rebellion SiteSite

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

Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Hollywood’s post office has been open since 1950.

Hamlets and corners on the map

Baptist HillLarocheLaurel HillPoint Pleasant

Gone or out of use

Rantowles Schoolschool

1cemetery inside Hollywood

Tomb of Colonel William Washington

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

The story so far

Hollywood, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Hollywood yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Hollywood is a town in Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, Hollywood had a population of 5,339. Hollywood is part of the Charleston, South Carolina metropolitan area and the Charleston-North Charleston Urbanized Area.

Its first post office opened in 1950. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population grew from 4,714 to 5,339 (+13%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Hollywood, 1919 to 1974

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

20th century
1919On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1950Born hereRobert Brown is born here
1950Post officeThe Hollywood post office opens
1974LandmarkStono River Slave Rebellion Site named a National Historic Landmark

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.

Add from your album

On the map

Hollywood on the map, 1919 to 1971

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

1919Wadmelaw Island 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 Hollywood.

People over time

Hollywood, census by census

Grew from 246 people in 1950 to 5,339 in 2020, more than tenfold.

8 censuses, 1950–2020.

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Charleston110 historic placesA Meggett1 historic placeB RavenelIts storyD Adams Run1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Hollywood’s history

What year was Hollywood founded?

The Hollywood post office opened in 1950, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Hollywood rank for history?

Hollywood is more historic than 15% of U.S. towns, #116 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 Hollywood?

One place: the Stono River Slave Rebellion Site (listed 1974).

How old are the homes in Hollywood?

3% of Hollywood’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.4 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 2003.

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 the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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) 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.

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