Walhalla dates to 1849, and 6 of its places are on the National Register
More historic than 72% of U.S. towns · #35 of 169 in South Carolina. What drives it
6 places in town are on the National Register, among them a historic district with 8 buildings. Most of Walhalla was built recently: 6% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1975. Below: 7 old photos and papers, maps from 1884 on, and the census since 1870.
Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1853.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Walhalla’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Walhalla is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #35 of 169 in South Carolina. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Walhalla’s overall grade.
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 Walhalla’s 45.7 sits above most of its state (77% of South Carolina towns have fewer) while its 19 historic buildings outnumber those of 79% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±3.7 points). Two sources give 1849.
Founding year: Wikidata (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 Walhalla’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
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.
1884Sheet 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.
On the National Register
6 listings protect 19 historic buildings
The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
The German Colonization Society of Charleston was founded in 1848 to aid a wave of immigrants from the failures of the German revolutions of 1848-1849 and settle them in The Upstate; in the aftermath, numerous liberal merchants and farmers immigrated to the United States. Society trustees including General John A. Wagener, Claus Bullwinkel, John C. Henckel, Jacob Schroder, and Christopher F. Seeba bought 17,859 acres (72.27 km2) of land for $27,000 from Reverend Joseph Grisham of West Union in the Pickens District on December 24, 1849, to support German settlement in this area.
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.
In 1849, according to Wikidata. Walhalla’s post office opened in 1853, and the census of 1870 counted 716 people here.
How does Walhalla rank for history?
Walhalla is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #35 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 Walhalla?
6 listings: 4 buildings, among them the St. John's Lutheran Church (listed 1980, the first), 1 historic district, the Walhalla High School, with 8 contributing buildings, and 1 structure. 19 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Walhalla?
6% of Walhalla’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±3.7 points), against a typical 3.5% for a South Carolina town; the median home was built in 1975.
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 (11), Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (6), 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.
c. 1910
c. 1915
c. 1915
2005
2005
2005
2005
