Dillon: Historic Downtown, Theater, and Motorsports

Dillon brings together a largely preserved historic business district, a theater, and a motorsports track. These highlights appeal to different interests: architecture and cultural history sit alongside stage performances and racing. If you’re planning a stay in Dillon, you can start by deciding whether historic buildings, an event, or the speedway should be your main focus.

Historic Downtown and Commercial Architecture

Dillon’s historic business district is largely preserved. In Downtown Dillon, historic commercial buildings retain decorative features dating from before 1903. For architecture enthusiasts, both aspects are relevant: the largely preserved district as a whole and the decorative details on individual commercial buildings. Dillon invites you to explore the city’s historic district. You can focus your walk on commercial architecture and notice the decorative features as specific details in the streetscape. This makes Downtown a different focus from a single museum building or the County Theatre’s stage program.

Theater and Events

The Dillon County Theatre combines architecture and a stage program. The building is one of the few surviving examples of Spanish Colonial architecture in South Carolina. It is home to the county’s theater group, the MacArthur Avenue Players, which performs a variety of plays each year. The Theatre also hosts concerts and beauty pageants. The theater therefore offers two distinct points of interest: the building itself is architecturally notable, while performances and other events provide a specific reason to plan a trip. Celebrate Main Street is another recurring event: Dillon has promoted the festival annually since 2002. If a particular play, concert, pageant, or Celebrate Main Street is the reason for your trip, check the dates in advance.

J.W. Dillon House Museum

The J.W. Dillon House Museum was built in 1890 and has been renovated and restored to represent the early 20th century. The year it was built and the period it represents are two different points in time: the building dates from the late 19th century, while the historical interpretation focuses on the early 20th century. This single building offers a different perspective from the commercial buildings in the Downtown district. Call ahead to arrange tours.

Motorsports at Dillon Motor Speedway

Dillon Motor Speedway is Dillon’s motorsports highlight. It opened in 1966 as a dirt oval track. The speedway is a 4/10-mile asphalt oval with 14 degrees of banking in the turns. The opening year refers to the dirt oval track; the length, asphalt surface, and banking describe other track features. The 4/10 mile indicates the track length, while 14 degrees describes the banking in the turns. The speedway is on Highway 9, a quarter mile from Interstate I-95 at Exit 193. Highway 9 and Exit 193 are useful landmarks when planning your route. The contrast with the historic business district highlights the change in focus: there, commercial architecture and decorative features dating from before 1903 take center stage; at the speedway, it’s the asphalt oval, track length, and banking in the turns.

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