Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Mount Pleasant

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
CHistory
History · Mount Pleasant

Mount Pleasant’s post office opened in 1875, and 12 of its places are on the National Register

More historic than 35% of U.S. towns · #78 of 169 in South Carolina. What drives it

Most of Mount Pleasant was built recently: 0.6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 2000. 12 places in town are on the National Register, among them 3 National Historic Landmarks and five historic districts with 65 buildings between them. Below: 3 old photos and papers, maps from 1893 on, and the census since 1880.

1875first post office
12on the National Register
0.6%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
14famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Mount Pleasant’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Mount Pleasant began

When was Mount Pleasant founded?

1875

The Mount Pleasant post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Haddell's Point (1849), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

First census: 783 in 18802020 census: 90,801151 years

How historic is Mount Pleasant?

C

More historic than 35% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

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

What drives Mount Pleasant’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Mount Pleasant is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #78 of 169 in South Carolina. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Mount Pleasant’s overall grade.
Founding era1875, from the first post office: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 19400.6% of homes (±0.3) · typical SC town 3.5% · U.S. 8.4%DNational Register12 listings, 71 historic buildings, 7.6 per 10,000 residents · typical SC town 3.2 · U.S. 2.4B+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 35%
NewerOlder
South Carolina towns of 2,500+ (169)Ahead of 54%

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 Mount Pleasant’s 7.6 sits near the middle of its state (61% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 71 historic buildings outnumber those of 87% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to B. The pre-1940 share (±0.3 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 Mount Pleasant’s past

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

Lost villages1 post office opened and closed inside today’s Mount Pleasant, and 31 old place names are still on the map.A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.A National Historic Landmark12 places on the National Register, 3 of them National Historic Landmarks.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1900 and 1910, then grew more than tenfold.
★ What stands out · Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Mount Pleasant’s post office has been open since 1875. Another post office, Haddell's Point, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Haddell's Point
1849–1851
Mount Pleasant
1875–today
18401930today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Avian ParkBayview AcresBrook Green MeadowCassina HeightsCooper EstatesCreekside ParkHarborgateHeritageHickory ShadowsHobcaw PointI'OnMartins Point LandingMillwoodMoss ParkMoultrie HeightsMyrtle AcresOsceola HeightsOsceola OaksPalmetto FortParish PlacePoint PleasantRemleys PointScanlonvilleSeaside Farms Estates
Gone or out of use
Four Mile SchoolschoolFour Mile SchoolschoolGregorie SchoolschoolHibbens FerrycrossingHobcaw PlantationlocaleLong Point SchoolschoolPhillips ChapelchurchRemleys Point SchoolschoolThree Mile ChurchchurchTwelve Mile Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Mount Pleasant
ConfederateOcean GroveVenning

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

Help out

Start Mount Pleasant’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewMt. Pleasant (1875): stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
On the National Register

12 listings protect 71 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 3 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed
12
National Historic Landmarks
3
USS Yorktown (Cv-10)
historic buildings protected
71
each building in a district counts
first listed
1971
Old Courthouse
Old CourthouseChrist ChurchMount Pleasant Historic DistrictOakland Plantation HouseSlave Street, Smokehouse, and Allee, Boone Hall PlantationBoone Hall Plantation House and Historic LandscapeLucas Family CemeteryCook's Old Field CemeteryPhillips Community Historic DistrictUSS Yorktown (Cv-10)★USS Laffey★Snee Farm-Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, built 1988★
BuildingsDistrictsSitesStructures★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Victorian Commercial1
Colonial1
Greek Revival1
Eastlake1
Colonial Revival1
★ Landmark
USS Yorktown (Cv-10)Structure
★ Landmark
USS LaffeyStructure
★ Landmark
Snee Farm-Charles Pinckney National Historic SiteBuilt 1988
Old CourthouseVictorian Commercial
Christ ChurchColonial
Mount Pleasant Historic DistrictGreek Revival
Oakland Plantation HouseBuilding
Slave Street, Smokehouse, and Allee, Boone Hall PlantationDistrict
All 12 listings
Boone Hall Plantation House and Historic LandscapeDistrict · listed 1994Lucas Family CemeterySite · listed 1998Cook's Old Field CemeterySite · listed 2003Phillips Community Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2023

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

The story

How Mount Pleasant came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Mount Pleasant.

Read it all →

The site of Mount Pleasant was originally occupied by the Sewee people, an Algonquian language–speaking tribe. The first European settlers arrived from England on July 6, 1680, under the leadership of Captain Florentia O'Sullivan. Captain O'Sullivan had been granted 2,340 acres (950 ha), which included not only the island later named for him, but also the future site of Mount Pleasant. On the earliest map of the time, this area was called "North Point".

ChaptersScanlonvilleRiversideHurricane Hugo and growth that followedCounty seatBridges

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Mount Pleasant, 1849 to 2020

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1849Post officeThe Haddell's Point post office opens
  3. 1851Post officeThe Haddell's Point post office closes
  4. 1875In the archiveMt. Pleasant (1875)
  5. 1875Post officeThe Mount Pleasant post office opens
  6. 20th century
  7. 1900In the archiveHome for Destitute Children--Mount Pleasant
  8. 1943On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  9. 1945Born hereMary Jackson is born here
  10. 1962In the archiveUSS Venture (MSO-496) dry-docked at Detyen's Shipyard, South Carolina in 1962
  11. 1974LandmarkSnee Farm-Charles Pinckney National Historic Site named a National Historic Landmark
  12. 1982Born hereBen Hollingsworth is born here
  13. 1986Born hereBarry Richardson is born here
  14. 1986LandmarkUSS Yorktown (Cv-10) named a National Historic Landmark
  15. 1986LandmarkUSS Laffey named a National Historic Landmark
  16. 1988BuiltSnee Farm-Charles Pinckney National Historic Site is built
  17. 1992Born hereShelby Rogers is born here
  18. 21st century
  19. 2020CensusPopulation peaks at 90,801
By decade

Mount Pleasant, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1870s to the 1960s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s–1900s2 items
Mt. Pleasant (1875)1875Mt. Pleasant (1875)Home for Destitute Children--Mount Pleasantc. 1900Home for Destitute Children--Mount Pleasant
1910s–1950snothing 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
1960s1 item
USS Venture (MSO-496) dry-docked at Detyen's Shipyard, South Carolina in 19621962USS Venture (MSO-496) dry-docked at Detyen's Shipyard…
1970s–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
Today2 recent
Enterence The Renaissance on Charleston Harbor SC2009Enterence The Renaissance on Charleston Harbor SCArthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge Charleston SC2009Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge Charleston SC
On the map

Mount Pleasant on the map, 1943 to 1971

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

Mount Pleasant on the 1943 USGS mapMount Pleasant on the 1959 USGS mapMount Pleasant on the 1971 USGS map1943Fort Moultrie 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 Mount Pleasant.

Every building

Mount Pleasant, building by building, 1893–1912

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.

Mount Pleasant fire insurance map, 1893, sheet 11893Sheet 1 of 5
Edition
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

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.

Mt. Pleasant (1875)
Retake this viewMt. Pleasant (1875), 1875

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

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Mount Pleasant, census by census

020,00040,00060,00080,000100,000188019001920194019601980200020202,252 in 1900Low: 1,346

Lost a third of its people between 1900 and 1910, then grew more than tenfold.

15 censuses, 1880–2020.

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

Famous people

14 famous people were born in Mount Pleasant

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Shelby RogersAmerican tennis player · b. 1992
B
Ben HollingsworthAmerican soccer player · b. 1982
Mary JacksonAfrican American artist · b. 1945
Barry RichardsonAmerican football player · b. 1986
J
John CornelyAmerican baseball player · b. 1989
T
Temoc SuarezAmerican soccer player-coach · b. 1975
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Charleston110 historic placesASullivan's Island8 historic placesA+AwendawIts storyD

Questions about Mount Pleasant’s history

What year was Mount Pleasant founded?

The Mount Pleasant post office opened in 1875, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Mount Pleasant rank for history?

Mount Pleasant is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #78 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 Mount Pleasant?

12 listings, 3 of them National Historic Landmarks: 3 buildings, among them the Old Courthouse (listed 1971, the first), 5 historic districts with 65 contributing buildings, 2 sites, and 2 structures. 71 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Mount Pleasant?

0.6% of Mount Pleasant’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 2000.

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 (5), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (12), 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 and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.