Belton, in Anderson County, is noted for its unusual standpipe or water tower. Here, the standpipe can be seen in the background of the Belton Square, around 1909. The town, like many other South Carolina communities, came into existence as a railroad station for the Columbia & Greenville Railroad. Made up from three Revolutionary War land grants in the 1850s, the town was incorporated in 1855, and named after Judge John Belton O'Neal, first president of the railroad. Its prosperity by the 1920s was due to the presence there of two major cotton mills.
Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.