“A” is for Anderson (Anderson County; 2020 population 29,170). A new courthouse in the upstate became necessary in December 1826, when Pendleton District was divided into Anderson and Pickens Districts. The courthouse was completed in 1828 and the town of Anderson was incorporated in 1833. Until the coming of the Greenville and Columbia Railroad in 1856, the town grew slowly. In the last decade of the nineteenth century Anderson became a center of the upstate’s industrial expansion. By 1900 Anderson had joined Greenville and Spartanburg as the leading textile manufacturing centers in South Carolina. The Anderson Water Light and Power Company led to the installation of electric streetlights and trolley lines. By the end of the twentieth century, Anderson had become a regional retail and commercial center attracting people from South Carolina and Georgia.
“A” is for Anderson
