York County lies within the Olde English region of South Carolina. The county and its seat are named in honor of York County, Pennsylvania.
Catawba Indians initially inhabited the region before they ceded control of the area to the United States via treaty in 1763. After this treaty was signed, a great number of Scotch-Irish from both Pennsylvania and the South Carolina Lowcountry began to settle the area.
The county was founded in 1785 within the Camden District. It later belonged to the Pinckney District before becoming its own district. During the Revolutionary War, the battles of Williamson’s Plantation and King’s Mountain took place here.
Initially, the economy relied on small cotton farms. However, over time the economy transitioned from cotton farming to cotton processing and became dependent on the textile industry.
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"A Birds-eye View of the Rock Hill Buggy Company." The brochure for which this engraving was drawn boasted around 1900: "This company was started here in 1886 with a little hand power plant and about...
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Office work changed from being primarily a male occupation to one dominated by women between the early 20th century and this 1960s photograph of a Winthrop College student in typing class. Courtesy of...
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Catawba Mill produces a new lightweight coated paper on this modern machinery, photographed on July 14, 1986. Courtesy of "The State" newspaper.
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As Superintendent of Schools in Columbia, South Carolina, David Bancroft Johnson saw the need for an institution that would focus on training teachers. He received funds from Robert Winthrop and the...
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"A Keowee Church Farm Cotton Picking." This photograph of whites picking cotton, taken around 1900 in York County, is from the collection of Miss Margaret Gist. She was active in the missionary...
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The mother of the boys who lived in the bedroom of this Rock Hill home labeled the 1898 photograph of it (in her album "The Blue Room") and gave the cry of mothers everywhere who have told their...
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Winthrop Industrial College, photographed May 12, 1894, was the industrial half of the Winthrop Normal and Industrial School constructed in Rock Hill. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
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This 1974 photograph of a Winthrop College classroom illustrates many of the changes in higher education that occurred in South Carolina in the late 1960s. The College had become co-educational, and...
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In the 1950s, Winthrop was still a college for white women, with rules regarding dress and class attendance. These attentive students taking notes in a large classroom are a remarkable contrast to...
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A Winthrop biology student in the early 1950s. Courtesy of the Winthrop University Archives.