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C+History
History · McColl

McColl’s post office opened in 1884, and 20% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 40% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1895 on, and the census since 1900.

1884first post office
0on the National Register
20%homes built before 1940
7old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From McColl’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How McColl began

When was McColl founded?

1884

The McColl post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 1,311 in 19002020 census: 2,070142 years

How historic is McColl?

C+

More historic than 40% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives McColl’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, McColl is more historic than 40% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

C+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of McColl’s overall grade.
Founding era1884, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194020.3% of homes (±7.2) · typical SC town 3.5% · U.S. 8.4%B+National 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 40%
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 McColl’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 (±7.2 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 McColl’s past

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

Mapped building by building5 fire insurance maps, 1895 to 1920, drew every building in McColl.
★ What stands out · Every building

McColl, building by building, 1895–1920

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.

McColl fire insurance map, 1895, sheet 11895Sheet 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.

The story

How McColl came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of McColl.

Read it all →

This area is within territory occupied by the Pee Dee of the South Appalachian Mississippian culture for several hundred years. Among their earthwork monuments is Town Creek Indian Mound, an important regional ceremonial site that was occupied from about 1150 to 1400 CE in Montgomery County, North Carolina, before they abandoned it for unknown reasons. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1966, the only American Indian site so honored in the state. In 2017, the Pee Dee Indian Tribe officially began work on the Pee Dee Tribal Mounds located on tribal land in McColl.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about McColl in 1897

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

The McColl Manufacturing Company, located in the town of McColl, the only cotton mill in Marlboro, is owned and managed almost entirely by citizens of Marlboro. It is spinning Marlboro cotton into a fine grade of yarn at the rate of fifty bales a day, **In
A History of Marlboro County1897 · page 265Read the page →
Read the text

The McColl Manufacturing Company, located in the town of McColl, the only cotton mill in Marlboro, is owned and managed almost entirely by citizens of Marlboro. It is spinning Marlboro cotton into a fine grade of yarn at the rate of fifty bales a day, **In

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
near what is now McLaurin's Mill, and owned land lying between Beaverdam and Panther Creeks. It would be interesting if we could show how much of the land lying south of the town of McColl he owned, and to whom he sold, and the changes that have taken place in the ownership of the land since his ti…
A History of Marlboro County1897 · page 267Read the page →
Read the text

near what is now McLaurin's Mill, and owned land lying between Beaverdam and Panther Creeks. It would be interesting if we could show how much of the land lying south of the town of McColl he owned, and to whom he sold, and the changes that have taken place in the ownership of the land since his time. The land lying south of the town, and now in the possession of John F. McLaurin was once owned by Robert Hamer and conveyed by him

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

McColl, 1884 to 1972

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1884Post officeThe Mc Coll post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1908In the archiveMcColl - Marlboro Cotton Mills, Mill No. 1
  5. 1910In the archiveMcColl 1910
  6. 1917Born hereEva Mae LeFevre is born here
  7. 1972On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

McColl, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s6 items
McColl - Marlboro Cotton Mills, Mill No. 1c. 1908McColl - Marlboro Cotton Mills, Mill No. 1PostcardMcColl - Marlboro Cotton Mills, Mill No. 2c. 1908McColl - Marlboro Cotton Mills, Mill No. 2PostcardMcColl - Presbyterian Church1908McColl - Presbyterian ChurchPostcardMcColl - Tatum Avenue, looking west 01c. 1908McColl - Tatum Avenue, looking west 01PostcardMcColl - Tatum Avenue, looking west 02c. 1908McColl - Tatum Avenue, looking west 02PostcardMcColl - Tatum Avenue, looking westc. 1908McColl - Tatum Avenue, looking westPostcard
1910s1 item
McColl 19101910McColl 1910
1920s–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
Today11 recent
Post Office and Clock2016Post Office and ClockMcColl Post Office and Clock2016McColl Post Office and ClockMcColl Munster's House2016McColl Munster's HouseMcColl Main Street2016McColl Main StreetMain Street Methodist Church2016Main Street Methodist ChurchJack's Pizza and Hot Subs2016Jack's Pizza and Hot SubsJ.D. Geddie and Son2016J.D. Geddie and SonFirst Freewill Baptist Church2016First Freewill Baptist ChurchFirst Baptist2016First BaptistMcColl SouthCarolina2011McColl SouthCarolinaSCMap-doton-McColl2004SCMap-doton-McColl
On the map

McColl on the map, 1972 to 1982

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

McColl on the 1972 USGS mapMcColl on the 1982 USGS map1972Mc Coll 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 McColl.

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.

McColl - Marlboro Cotton Mills, Mill No. 1
Retake this viewMcColl - Marlboro Cotton Mills, Mill No. 1, c. 1908

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

McColl, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 2,688

Between 1,311 and 2,688 people in every census since 1900.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

Help out

Finish McColl’s story

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMcColl - Marlboro Cotton Mills, Mill No…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about McColl’s history

What year was McColl founded?

The McColl post office opened in 1884, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does McColl rank for history?

McColl is more historic than 40% 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 McColl?

20% of McColl’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±7.2 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 1977.

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 (18), 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.