Laurens County lies in the Piedmont of South Carolina, with the Enoree River, the Saluda River, and Lake Greenwood comprising some of its borders. The county was founded in 1785 with land from the Ninety-Six District. Laurens serves as the county seat.
Cherokee Indians lived in the area first. However, in 1753 John Duncan, a native of Scotland, moved from Pennsylvania and established the first settlement in the area. As a result, a great number of Scotch-Irish and English moved to the settlement, leading to a unique amount of loyalty to the British during the Revolutionary War.
The Revolutionary War had a great impact on Laurens County. A number of Revolutionary War battles, such as the battle of Musgrove’s Hill, occurred in Laurens County. Additionally, the county and its seat are named after Henry Laurens, who served as president of the Continental Congress.
Cotton has played a large role in Laurens County throughout much of its history. Before the Civil War, cotton plantations dominated the county’s economy. After the Civil War, the county continued to rely on growing cotton, this time in the form of sharecropping. The county easily transitioned from the sharecropping of cotton into the spinning of cotton and the textile industry. Mill villages arose out of this industry and defined the county’s economy and culture through World War II.
More recently, the textile and agricultural industries that once dominated Laurens County have diminished. The county’s economy now relies much more on manufacturing and distribution.
Continental Congress. June 09, 2016. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1776-1783/continental-congress
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"H" is for Hunter, John (d. 1802). Congressman, U.S. senator. Little is known about Hunter’s early life. He owned considerable real estate in Pendleton District. In 1785, he was elected to the General...
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Football uniforms and equipment have changed a great deal during the 20th century. The helmets and nose guards of these players at Laurens High School in 1909 were made of leather. Courtesy of the...
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Laurens, carved out of the Ninety Six District in 1785 and named after Henry Laurens (see Henry Laurens), was, like much of the backcountry, settled by Scotch-Irish in the pre-Revolutionary period...
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Lewis Hine photographed this row of mill houses in Clinton in 1908, but the town is better known as the home of Presbyterian College, founded by the Reverend William Plumer Jacobs, a Presbyterian...
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Union Station, Columbia, in 1962, after the heyday of the railroads had passed. At its height, the Union Station served passenger trains of the Atlantic Coast Line, the Southern Railway and the...
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"F" is for Fuller, William Edward [1875-1958] Clergyman.
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Best known as the "Savior of Mount Vernon," Ann Pamela Cunningham (1816-1875) had the distinction, for a long time, of being the only woman whose portrait hung in the South Carolina State House. From...
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William Watts Ball (1868-1952) was the long-time editor of the Charleston "News and Courier." Born in Laurens County, he grew up during Reconstruction, and, according to legend, held Wade Hampton's...
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Laurens County Training School opened in 1924 in a building constructed with assistance from the Rosenwald Fund, taught grades 8-11 until 1948. This school, at first emphasizing farming and homemaking...