The first settlement of Branchville was established in 1735 about one mile southeast of the present town, and nearly 100 years later the present town grew from 170 acres purchased from the South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company at a point about halfway between Charleston and Hamburg, now North Augusta, South Carolina. America's first commercial railroad began operations on Christmas Day, 1830, when the Best Friend of Charleston ran at speeds of 20 miles per hour; construction had begun in 1829 outside Charleston and by 1833 the line was complete to Hamburg, spanning 136 miles, then the longest railroad in the world and twice as long as any in the United States. In 1840 the railroad branched from Branchville to Orangeburg, making it the first railroad junction in the world. The first mail on the rail line was carried from Charles to Hamburg, and the first village delivery of mail was in Branchville. The town was also the first to own its own telephone exchange and electric plant. During the Civil War the rail line hauled troops, and the site of the battery remains where Confederate troops burned the bridge and turned Sherman's troops around Branchville through Orangeburg. The depot was built in 1877, with sheds and a waiting room added in 1910, and its dining room was the first passenger dining room where trains stopped for breakfast and dinner; three former U.S. Presidents, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Howard Taft, dined there.