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“S” is for Simpsonville

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  “S” is for Simpsonville [Greenville County; population 14,352]. Incorporated in 1901, Simpsonville began many decades earlier as a crossroads hamlet where the Old Stage Road intersected a former Cherokee trail. In 1838, Peter Simpson established a blacksmith operation at the crossroads. Other enterprises soon followed and the settlement became known as Simpsonville. In the mid-1880s, the completion of the Greenville and Laurens Railroad near the town brought growth and development. In 1886, the post office officially became known as Simpsonville. By 1900, the town had become a cotton-processing hub with three gins and a cottonseed oil mill. A cotton mill remained the largest employer until after World War II. Between 1970 and 1990, the town’s population grew 254 percent. An additional increase of thirteen percent from 1990 to 1992 made Simpsonville the fastest-growing city in South Carolina.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.