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History · Olar

Olar’s post office opened in 1892, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1919 on and the census since 1900.

1892first post office
0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Olar began

When was Olar founded?

1892

The Olar post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 196 in 19002020 census: 215134 years
Founding year: the first Olar post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Olar’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 Olar are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Boom and bustPeaked at 540 in 1930; 215 people lived here in 2020.On the map since 19193 editions of the USGS map, 1919 to 1982. Watch Olar change.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Olar’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Olar’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
People over time

Olar, census by census

01002003004005006001900192019401960198020002020Peak: 540

Peaked at 540 in 1930; 215 people lived here in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

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

On the map

Olar on the map, 1919 to 1982

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

Olar on the 1919 USGS mapOlar on the 1943 USGS mapOlar on the 1982 USGS map1919Olar 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 Olar.

The story

How Olar came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Olar.

Read it all →

The Mizpah Methodist Church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Olar, 1892 to 1967

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1892Post officeThe Olar post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1919On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 540
  6. 1967Born hereDave Dickerson is born here
By decade

Olar, decade by decade

Today3 recent
Town Hall in2023Town Hall inOlar SC2021Olar SCSCMap-doton-Olar2004SCMap-doton-Olar

Questions about Olar’s history

What year was Olar founded?

The Olar post office opened in 1892, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

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 (3), 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) 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.