Allendale is a town in and the county seat of Allendale County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 3,482 at the 2010 census, a decline from 4,052 in 2000. The majority of residents are African American.

History

Allendale has various historic properties including National Register of Historic Places listings in Allendale County, South Carolina. These include Allendale County Courthouse, Antioch Christian Church, Erwin House, Gravel Hill Plantation, Red Bluff Flint Quarries, Roselawn, and Smyrna Baptist Church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The artist Jasper Johns lived in Allendale during his childhood in the 1930s and 1940s. He was raised there by his grandfather, a farmer, and then with his aunt, the only teacher in a two-room school.

In his 2015 book entitled Deep South: Four Seasons on Back Roads, author Paul Theroux describes Allendale as a "ghost town", "poor, neglected, hopeless-looking, a vivid failure."

On April 5, 2022, an intense low-end EF3 tornado impacted the southern and southeast side of the city, causing major damage to several structures and injuring one person. The tornado prompted a rare tornado emergency to be declared for the city by the National Weather Service office in Charleston, South Carolina.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.

Demographics

2020 census

{| class="wikitable"

|+Allendale racial composition

!Race

!Num.

!Perc.

|-

|White (non-Hispanic)

|268

|9.95%

|-

|Black or African American (non-Hispanic)

|2,310

|85.75%

|-

|Native American

|9

|0.33%

|-

|Asian

|4

|0.15%

|-

|Other/Mixed

|48

|1.78%

|-

|Hispanic or Latino

|55

|2.04%

|}

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 2,694 people, 1,244 households, and 667 families residing in the town.

2000 census

As of the census

<gallery widths="170" class="center">

File:Allendale County Courthouse.jpg|Allendale County Courthouse

File:Gravel Hill Plantation, Allendale County, SC, US.jpg|Gravel Hill Plantation

File:Erwin House, Allendale County, SC, US.jpg|Erwin House

</gallery>

Media

WEBA-TV/DT, a PBS station serving the South Carolina side of the Central Savannah River Area, is located here.

Notable residents

  • Roy C (1939-2020) - soul singer, songwriter, and record executive, who owned a record label and record store in Allendale
  • George B. Daniels (born 1953) — federal judge
  • Hilda Grayson Finney (1913–1976) — educator
  • Jasper Johns (born 1930) - painter

References

  • History of Allendale, from Allendale County website