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B−History
History · Langley

Langley’s post office opened in 1871, and 35% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 50% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: maps from 1923 on.

1871first post office
0on the National Register
35%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Langley began

When was Langley founded?

1871

The Langley post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 1,485155 years

How historic is Langley?

B−

More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Langley post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Langley’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Langley is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Langley’s overall grade.
Founding era1871, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194035.0% of homes (±15.9) · typical SC town 3.5% · U.S. 8.4%ANational 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 50%
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 Langley’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 range from C− to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±15.9 points). 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 Langley’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 Langley are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Langley’s homes were built before 1954.On the map since 19235 editions of the USGS map, 1923 to 1980. Watch Langley change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Langley’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Langley’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
The story

How Langley came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Langley.

Read it all →

The town was named Langley in March 1870, at a meeting of the Board of Directors for the Langley Manufacturing Company in nearby Hamburg. The name was chosen in honor of William C. Langley of Brooklyn, New York, the company's principal stockholder. The original name was Kalmia, after the Kalmia Mills, purchased by Langley and several other stockholders. This was reported in The Augusta Chronicle in March 1870. According to Who Was Who in America, William C. Langley was a shrewd and astute 19th-century businessman who amassed a fortune in the textile industry.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

On the map

Langley on the map, 1923 to 1980

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

Langley on the 1923 USGS mapLangley on the 1943 USGS mapLangley on the 1964 USGS mapLangley on the 1971 USGS mapLangley on the 1980 USGS map1923Warrenville 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 Langley.

Timeline

Langley, 1871 to 1923

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Langley post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1902Born hereBlackie Carter is born here
  5. 1923On 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 album
Places that used to be

Old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Langley’s post office has been open since 1871.

Hamlets and corners on the map
BurnettownLangley Villa
Gone or out of use
W G Langley Public Schoolschool
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Langley
New LangleyOld Langley

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

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

BurnettownIts storyC−GlovervilleIts storyD

Questions about Langley’s history

What year was Langley founded?

The Langley post office opened in 1871, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Langley rank for history?

Langley is more historic than 50% 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 Langley?

35% of Langley’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±15.9 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 1954.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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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, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.