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S” is for Spartanburg County

“S” is for Spartanburg County (811 square miles; 2020 population 328,000). Spartanburg County is located in the northwestern section of South Carolina in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The signing of a treaty with the Cherokees in 1755 made land grants available to British settlers. During the Revolutionary War fighting in the area resembled a civil war between Patriots and Loyalists. In 1785 Spartanburg was one of six counties established in the South Carolina interior by the General Assembly. In the latter part of the nineteenth century textile mills were built throughout the county, making Spartanburg an important textile center in the state and the nation. Peaches have replaced cotton as the county’s major cash crop.In the years after World War II, Spartanburg County became internationally renowned for its successful recruitment of foreign industry.

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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.