Dillon City

Dillon County, South Carolina

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Dillon City Hall is located at 401 West Main Street, Dillon, SC 29536.
Phone: 843‑774‑0040.

Beginnings [1]

The City of Dillon, chartered in 1888, developed around agriculture and the railroad. The town rose from marsh and swamp to fulfill the vision of John W. Dillon, for whom the city is named. Plotted around the train station, the design included an extremely wide main thoroughfare with oak-lined avenues. The town radiated from railroad rights of way as the new transportation era arrived. In 1905, the original frame station was replaced with the brick station and it is currently in use today by CSX and Amtrak. The earliest buildings housed businesses supporting the agricultural economy: tobacco and cotton. Banks, cotton mill, tobacco warehouses and hotels as well as the businesses necessary for living in a rural area began to thrive. Homes and churches were built. The first graded school was built in 1896 and is still in use today. The commercial architecture of downtown Dillon reflects the growth of a turn-of-the-century railroad community. Impressive buildings such as the Bank of Dillon, designed by architects Edward Okel, Jr. and Carl B. Cooper in 1910, took the place of frame structures. In 1935, H. H. Anderson hired Lafaye and Lafaye of Columbia to redesign three properties: the Anderson Brothers Bank, the Dillon Theatre and adjoining offices.

  1. Maggie Riales, Revitalization Coordinator for the City of Dillon with SHPO Staff, South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Dillon Downtown Historic District, Dillon County, SC, nomination document, 2002, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.

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