The story
Read it all →How Jackson came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Jackson.
Silver Bluff was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
C−History
History · Jackson
Jackson’s post office opened in 1895
More historic than 21% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Most of Jackson was built recently: 5% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1968. Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 1960.
1895first post office
0on the National Register
5%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Jackson began
When was Jackson founded?
1895
The Jackson post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name. Two smaller post offices, Jackson Station (1873) and Silverton (1893), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 1,746 in 19602020 census: 1,521131 years
How historic is Jackson?
C−
What drives the grade ↓More historic than 21% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Jackson post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Jackson’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Jackson is more historic than 21% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
C−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Jackson’s overall grade.
Founding era1895, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19405.0% of homes (±2.9) · typical SC town 3.5% · U.S. 8.4%CNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical SC town 3.2 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 21%
NewerOlder
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 Jackson’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be C−. The pre-1940 share (±2.9 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 Jackson’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Jackson’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Jackson’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.Places that used to be
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Jackson’s post office has been open since 1895. Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Jackson Station
Silverton
Jackson
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Thomas Grove Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Jackson
Jackson
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Timeline
Jackson, 1873 to 1965
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
- 19th century
- 1873Post officeThe Jackson Station post office opens
- 1893Post officeThe Silverton post office opens
- 1895Post officeThe Jackson Station post office closes
- 1895Post officeThe Jackson post office opens
- 20th century
- 1908Post officeThe Silverton post office closes
- 1965
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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 albumOn the map
Jackson on the map, 1965 to 1989
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Jackson. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1965Jackson sheet · 1:24,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Jackson.
People over time
Jackson, census by census
Between 1,521 and 1,928 people in every census since 1960.
7 censuses, 1960–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Jackson’s Wikipedia page.
Questions about Jackson’s history
What year was Jackson founded?
The Jackson post office opened in 1895, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Jackson rank for history?
Jackson is more historic than 21% 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.
How old are the homes in Jackson?
5% of Jackson’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.9 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 1968.
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 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.