The story
Read it all →How Rowesville came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Rowesville.
Cattle Creek Campground was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Rowesville
Rowesville’s post office opened in 1876, and 18% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1921 on and the census since 1880.
1876first post office
0on the National Register
18%homes built before 1940
Quick answers
How Rowesville began
When was Rowesville founded?
1876
The Rowesville post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Rowe's Pump (1855), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 125 in 18802020 census: 253150 years
Founding year: the first Rowesville post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Rowesville’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ What stands out · Help out
Start Rowesville’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Rowesville’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Rowesville, census by census
Peaked at 508 in 1910; 253 people lived here in 2020.
15 censuses, 1880–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Rowesville’s Wikipedia page.
On the map
Rowesville on the map, 1921 to 1982
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Rowesville. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1921Orangeburg sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Rowesville.
Timeline
Rowesville, 1855 to 1921
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
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 albumFamous people
See all →Famous people close to Rowesville
Nobody well known was born in Rowesville itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Places that used to be
Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds
Rowesville’s post office has been open since 1876. Another post office, Rowe's Pump, opened and closed inside today’s town.
Rowe's Pump
Rowesville
18501940today
Gone or out of use
Rowesville Schoolschool
1cemetery inside Rowesville
New Hope Methodist
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Questions about Rowesville’s history
What year was Rowesville founded?
The Rowesville post office opened in 1876, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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 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.