Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to McClellanville

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · McClellanville

McClellanville’s post office opened in 1871, and 15% of its homes were built before 1940

2 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 106 buildings. Below: 12 old photos and papers, maps from 1942 on, and the census since 1930.

1871first post office
2on the National Register
15%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From McClellanville’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How McClellanville began

When was McClellanville founded?

1871

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

First census: 502 in 19302020 census: 605155 years
Founding year: the first McClellanville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about McClellanville’s past

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

A historic districtThe McClellanville Historic District takes in 106 historic buildings.A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers.
★ What stands out · On the National Register

2 listings protect 107 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
107
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
McClellanville Historic District
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal ChurchMcClellanville Historic District
BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Late Victorian Gothic1
Colonial Revival1
Vernacular1
Carpenter Gothic1
Queen Anne1
Italianate1
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal ChurchLate Victorian Gothic
All 2 listings
McClellanville Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1982

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

By decade

McClellanville, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1930s12 items
HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 0 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 7011933HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 0 of 12) - Lynch House,…HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 1 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 7011933HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 1 of 12) - Lynch House,…HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 10 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 7011933HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 10 of 12) - Lynch House…HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 11 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 7011933HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 11 of 12) - Lynch House…HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 12 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 7011933HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 12 of 12) - Lynch House…HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 2 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 7011933HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 2 of 12) - Lynch House,…HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 3 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 7011933HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 3 of 12) - Lynch House,…HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 4 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 7011933HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 4 of 12) - Lynch House,…HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 5 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 7011933HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 5 of 12) - Lynch House,…HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 6 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 7011933HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 6 of 12) - Lynch House,…HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 7 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 7011933HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 7 of 12) - Lynch House,…HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 8 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 7011933HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 8 of 12) - Lynch House,…
1940s–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
The story

How McClellanville came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of McClellanville.

Read it all →

McClellanville village began in the late 1860s when local plantation owners A.J. McClellan and Richard Morrison II sold lots in the vicinity of Jeremy Creek to planters of the Santee Delta, who sought relief from summer fevers. Morrison's son, James Morrison served as the first Intendent as the town was founded in 1926. The first store opened soon after the Civil War, and the village became the social and economic center for a wide area that produced timber, rice, cotton, naval stores, and seafoods.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

McClellanville, 1871 to 1942

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1871Post officeThe Mc Clellanville post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1933In the archiveHABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 0 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 701
  5. 1942On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

McClellanville on the map, 1942 to 1992

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

McClellanville on the 1942 USGS mapMcClellanville on the 1973 USGS mapMcClellanville on the 1992 USGS map1942Mc Clellanville 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 McClellanville.

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.

HABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 0 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 701
Retake this viewHABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 0 of 12) - Lynch House, U.S. Routes 17 and 701, 1933

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

McClellanville, census by census

010020030040050060019401960198020002020Peak: 605

Between 304 and 605 people in every census since 1930.

10 censuses, 1930–2020.

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

Places that used to be

Old corners

Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Moores Corner

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

Help out

Finish McClellanville’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 viewHABS SC,10-MCCLEL.V,2- (sheet 0 of 12) …: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about McClellanville’s history

What year was McClellanville founded?

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

What is on the National Register in McClellanville?

Two places: the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church (listed 2004) and the McClellanville Historic District (1982).

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 (12), the National Register of Historic Places (2), 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.