A history of Chesnee,
then and now
Postcards, papers and photographs of Chesnee from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗In the early 20th century, the Chesnee Land Company bought a sizeable acreage at what is now Chesnee. A leading member of the company was John B. Cleveland of Spartanburg. Cleveland named the company - and later the town - after his great-grandmother, Margaret Chesnee, who was born in Scotland. She married Alexander Vernon, also born in Scotland. The Clinchfield Railroad ran an excursion train over the newly laid rails to Spartanburg on October 23, 1909.
The Chesnee post office was established in 1910, and the town was chartered in 1911. Early businesses included a hotel, pharmacy, cotton mill, and lumber mill.
The Cowpens National Battlefield and Zeno Hicks House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Chesnee’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewSharecropper boy, Chesnee, South …, 1937: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people close to Chesnee
See all 20 →
Chesnee, decade by decade
CommonsSharecropper boy, Chesnee, South Carolina, 8b320961937
CommonsSharecropper boy, Chesnee, South Carolina, 8b320961937
LOCSharecropper boy. Chesnee, South Carolina1937
LOCSharecropper boy. Chesnee, South Carolina1937
LOCSharecropper family near Chesnee, South Carolina1937
LOCSharecropper boy near Chesnee, South Carolina1937
LOCYoung sharecropper at Chesnee, South Carolina1937
LOCSharecropper boy near Chesnee, South Carolina1937
LOCSharecropper family near Chesnee, South Carolina1937
LOCGrandmother of sharecropper family near Chesnee, South Caro…1937
LOCWell and old plantation smokehouse. Chesnee, South Carolina1937
LOCHome of sharecropper family near Chesnee, South Carolina19371990s
1 historic place in Chesnee
1 place in Chesnee is on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
Architectural styles
When they were listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Sharecropper boy, Chesnee, South Carolina, 8b32096 (1937) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (2) and the Library of Congress (10). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.