Latta Downtown Historic District
National Register Listing
Street Address:
Roughly along E. and W. Main Sts., Latta, SC (Dillon County)
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817717008
Description and Narrative:
The Latta Downtown Historic District is significant for its high concentration of intact examples of early twentieth-century commercial architecture and as an illustration of Latta’s role as a center of trade and commerce in Dillon County during the period ca. 1895 to ca. 1928. Thirteen properties contribute to the character of the historic district, with one noncontributing property. The town was founded as the result of a by-pass railroad line chartered by the Florence Railroad in 1882. In 1888, railroad officials established a loading station in what is now Latta. Latta soon became a thriving little town and still boasts a wide Main Street and arterial connections, all planned by Robert Latta. Latta was incorporated as a town in what was then Marion County on 23 December 1890. The town’s boom period was from the turn of the twentieth century to the 1920s, when Latta became a major tobacco market in the Pee Dee region of the state. Trade from the rich farming section surrounding the town supported a variety of mercantile establishments such as grocery stores, drugstores, a hotel, two banks, and several dry goods stores concentrated in a block east of the railroad on Main St. Listed in the National Register May 20, 1998.
Period of Significance:
circa 1895 – 1928
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Commerce;Architecture
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
May 20 1998
