Laurens County

Anderson’s eclectic repertoire and engaging personality brought him national attention during the folk music revival of the early 1960s.

Following the Civil War, the future of Clinton appeared bleak. The railroad ceased operation, and Laurens County was plagued with racial violence. However, prospects rose in the 1870s, thanks to the efforts of Dr. Jacobs and the local entrepreneur Mercer Silas Bailey.

Emulating the progressive policies of his predecessor, Cooper proposed an ambitious reform program, notably statewide compulsory public school attendance.

On returning to South Carolina after a summer visit with her daughter in Philadelphia, Louisa Byrd Cunningham observed the dilapidated state of George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon. From her sickbed Ann Pamela Cunningham immediately penned an appeal to the “Ladies of the South!” to raise funds to purchase and renovate Mount Vernon.

He opposed federal minimum wage and child-labor laws, and his objections to the World War I bonus bill cost him support among veterans.

A year after completing his term in the House in 1839, Elmore was elected president of the Bank of the State of South Carolina (BSSC). During his tenure the bank prospered and proved itself to be a vital institution of economic development in the state.

Other textile mills followed, but Fountain Inn remained primarily a commercial hub for nearby farmers. Twentieth-century transportation developments reinforced Fountain Inn’s prosperity, as the town straddled what emerged as a major north-south highway in the upstate.

Fuller believed that he had been sanctified in 1895 after he retreated to a cornfield for a time of intense prayer.

The Grays were influential civic leaders, devoted Methodists, conservative Democrats, and contributors to the industrial development of their town.

The success of the Anderson and Abbeville spurs inspired the creation of other short routes that extended the reach of the Greenville and Columbia in the upstate. In 1854 the Laurens Railroad completed a thirty-two mile line from Laurens to Newberry.

Holman enjoyed a lofty position among scholars of American literature. Embracing his southern roots and a sense of the tragic, he gave a major part of his scholarly effort to southern writing.

Holmes began to ponder Pentecostal experience when he read about hundreds receiving the gifts of the spirit at a revival in Los Angeles in 1906, and he began to identify himself as a Pentecostal after attending a revival meeting in West Union in 1907 at the urging of one of the students at his school.

Taking his seat on January 27, 1797, Hunter served in the U.S. Senate until November 26, 1798, when he resigned and returned to his agriculture pursuits. He served as a presidential elector for the George Washington–John Adams ticket in 1792 and for the Thomas Jefferson–Aaron Burr ticket in 1800.

Returned in 1888 and 1890, Irby was unanimously elected Speaker of the House in 1890. During this time, Irby and others persuaded Benjamin Tillman to come out of his self-imposed retirement and lead the reform movement initiated by the Farmers’ Alliance as a challenge to conservative control of the Democratic Party.

Originally called Laurensville, the town became the county seat shortly after Laurens County was established in 1785.

Located in the Piedmont, Laurens is a county of forests and gently rolling hills.

When deposits of the mineral silica, important for glassmaking, were found a few miles north of Laurens, a group of local businessmen organized Laurens Glass Works in 1910.

Michelin and South Carolina made a successful match. The company was not secretive about its conservative character and dislike of unions, and in South Carolina, Michelin found a base that suited its corporate values and business objectives.

Granite slabs five feet long, twenty-one inches wide, and eighteen inches deep supported walls of stone and concretelike mortar that ranged from twelve to eighteen inches thick. It was one of the first concrete buildings constructed in the South.

Peterkin’s stark, poignant stories about black country folk were among the first flowerings in the movement toward ironic, realistic regional fiction later known as the Southern Renaissance