History of Greenville, SC - From a town to a CITY!

From a Town to a City

In February 1869, Greenville’s Town Charter was amended by the S. C. General Assembly establishing Greenville, the town, as a City.

Again, Greenville began to grow. An African American church, Springfield Baptist, was built, the Southern Railroad began operations through Greenville, a large cotton seed oil mill was built on Augusta Street, a horse drawn street railway began operations and the first real bridge was built for Main Street to cross the Reedy River.

Almost simultaneously, publication began of a daily paper, Greenville Daily News, and a large textile mill, Camperdown, was built on the river in downtown Greenville.

In 1876, Greenville’s first non-protestant church was built - St. Mary’s Catholic Church. 1882 was a memorable year for a second mill, the Huguenot Mill, was built within the City, telephone service was inaugurated, home mail delivery had begun and the City School District was created.

By the 1890, a second City Hall had to be built along with a City Hospital.

In the late 1890s, Greenville hosted a U. S. Army training camp called Camp
Wetherill where soldiers were trained to serve in the Spanish-American War.

With the turn of the century came electric street cars, Southern Bell telephone service, Coca-Cola and American Cigar production, the building of the Ottaray Hotel and a local man, Martin F. Ansel, being elected to serve as Governor of South Carolina.

In the mid teens, with Greenville being known as the “ Textile Center of the South”, an Exposition Hall for the textile industries was built, but WWII was soon in progress and another army camp was built. This time, the army camp called Camp Sevier was outside of the City, but had a great impact on the economy of the City.