Leesville College Historic District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

From the record

“Leesville College Historic District is a national historic district located at Batesburg-Leesville, Lexington County, South Carolina. It encompasses 28 contributing buildings associated with the Busbee Brothers' School and the Leesville English and Classical Institute.”
Wikipedia article Leesville College Historic District, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 56 National Register listings published here for Lexington County · listed in 1982 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. Railroad Ave., College, Peachtree, King, and Lee Sts., Leesville, 29070
When was it listed? July 1982
Category. district
Also known as. Batesburg-Leesville MRA
Census division. Batesburg-Leesville
National Register reference number. 82003889 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

88 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 88 fires within 5 miles of Leesville College Historic District between 1992 and 2020, burning about 384 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 8 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	30
Debris and open burning	27
Arson/incendiarism	8
Natural	7
Equipment and vehicle use	7
Railroad operations and maintenance	3
Recreation and ceremony	2
Misuse of fire by a minor	2
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1
Smoking	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
9 September 2018	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
7 September 1997	Debris and open burning	20 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
15 September 2001	Debris and open burning	under an acre	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
15 September 1997	Railroad operations and maintenance	1.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
4 August 1999	Equipment and vehicle use	6.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
26 August 2002	Natural	under an acre	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
24 August 2011	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
2 August 2016	Natural	15 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named

Every fire recorded in Lexington County

Mines and quarries near this property

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Leesville College Historic District: 2 unknowns, 1 past producer, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Sand. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Marlowe Creek	Clay	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Rawl-Cotton Branch Road Mine	Sand	Unknown	Sedimentary
Summit Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Summite Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown	Sedimentary

Every working recorded in Lexington County

Storms near this property

40 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Leesville, the town this property stands in, in 40 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 28 thunderstorm wind, 10 hail, 2 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
April 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	$120,000	Local police reported several trees down on 4 homes and powerlines down as well.
July 2012	Hail	Leesville	$30,000	SKYWARN spotter reported golfball size hail in Leesville.
June 2009	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	$15,000	Public reported several trees down in Leesville with one through a home.
August 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	$12,000	Electric company reported power outages near Leesville from large limbs and trees down on power lines.
June 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	$4,000	Batesburg-Leesville police reported trees down on Sussex Road and Lee Street.
November 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	$4,000	Highway Patrol reported several trees down in Leesville.
June 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	$3,000	Highway Patrol reported trees down at Dog Leg Road and Tom Addy Road in Leesville.
May 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	$2,000	Public reported a few trees down just ENE of Batesburg-Leesville near Clover and Saber roads.
August 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	$2,000	Highway Patrol reported a couple trees down near the intersection of Pond Road and Lewis Waters Road.
July 2025	Flash Flood	Leesville	-	Trained spotter reported flash flooding along Hwy 1 with water getting into a restaurant near Crouch St. Water was also approaching the front doors of businesses on Main St in Leesville.
July 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Batesburg-Leesville Police Department reported tree down near the intersection of Hill St and North Carolina Ave. Time estimated by radar.
August 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Trained spotter reports multiple large trees down near the intersection of E Columbia Ave and James St. Time estimated by radar.
June 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Facebook post shows fallen trees and power lines down at location. Time estimated by user and radar.
April 2017	Hail	Leesville	-	Amateur radio operator reported ping pong ball size hail on Main St in Batesburg-Leesville.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Trees and limbs were downed and knocked out a power transformer.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Power lines were downed.
June 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Reported trees down between Leesville and Summit near Sandpit Road and Broad Street.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Sheriff's Dispatch reported structural damage to an apartment complex on Pinewood Drive due to fallen trees.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Sheriff's Dispatch reported trees down on railroad tracks.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Sheriff's Dispatch reported trees down on powerlines on Summerland Ave.
June 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Reported trees down on Shealy Rd.
July 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Sheriff reported couple of trees down in Leesville and east on US 1 toward Lexington.
June 2007	Hail	Leesville	-	WIS TV reported penny to nickel size hail in the Leesville area.
May 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Public reported large tree limb down on car near Irvin Risinger and Windmill roads.
May 2006	Hail	Leesville	-	Public reported nickel size hail.
August 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Highway Dept. reported trees and powerlines down in Leesville.
August 2006	Flash Flood	Leesville	-	Highway Dept. reported water covering Hallman Wagon road near US 1 in the Gilbert area.
May 2005	Hail	Leesville	-	SKYWARN spotter reported golf ball size hail.
May 2005	Hail	Leesville	-	Public called in a report of penny size hail.
May 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Electric coop reported trees and powerlines down on Monticello road.
August 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Utility company reported trees down on powerlines and power outages.
February 2004	Hail	Leesville	-	WACH TV spotter reported 3/4 inch hail in Leesville.
October 2004	Hail	Leesville	-	Local police reported nickel size hail in Leesville.
March 2002	Hail	Leesville	-	Public reported golf ball size hail in Leesville.
January 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Leesville police reported some trees down in the Kneece area.
December 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Sheriff reported trees down.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	SKYWARN spotter reported large limbs down on U.S. 1.
February 1993	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	Thunderstorm winds uprooted trees.
May 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Leesville	-	no account filed
April 1997	Hail	Leesville	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Lexington County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Hampton Hendrix Office	0.2 miles	1982
Rev. Frank Yarborough House	0.3 miles	1982
Crowell Mitchell House	0.3 miles	1982
Thomas Galbraith Herbert House	0.4 miles	1982
Church Street Historic District	0.5 miles	1982
Henry Franklin Hendrix House	0.7 miles	1982

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 82003889 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Lexington County	All 56 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.