Below you will find and excerpt from SOUTH CAROLINA: A HANDBOOK. This book was published in 1927 by the Department of Agriculture, Commerce and Industries and Clemson University. The excerpt details information of Greenville County, its population, work force, schools, and a bit of information on Greenville SC real estate, in the sense of Greenville real estates topography. You will notice a vast change, as could be expected, in the real estate of Greenville County.
Greenville SC city info for the 1920's
GREENVILLE COUNTY
With a population of 88,498 in 1920, estimated for 1925 at 99,859, of which half is engaged in or dependent upon manufacturing, Greenville County presents a condition of balance between agriculture and industry not frequently found in the South. Farming has had a notable and profitable stimulation in ready markets provided by the urban and industrial population aggregating about two-thirds of Greenville Countys total.
In Greenville County South Carolina, cotton spinning and weaving is Greenville Countys primary industry. The investment in textile plants alone today is $27,102,834; there are 25 mills in Greenville County with a total of 771,364 spindles, 15 per cent of the State of South Carolinas total. The annual product is valued at $40,000,000, the payroll is $7,000,000 and 10,000 operatives are employed in Greenville County. More than 4,500 of cloth are made, from heavy duck to fancy silks, finest cottons and rayon products. Besides the cotton mills in Greenville County, there are 49 other industrial plants, with an annual product value at $9,000,000. The total industrial and railroad payroll is over $10,000,000 annually, and the industrial resources include, besides the cotton mills, bleaching and finishing plants, worsted factory dyeing and processing plant, sewer pipe works, belting plant and plants making equipment for looms and other textile appliances.
Greenville County real estate in South Carolina was part of the area ceded by the Cherokee Indians, and was created by legislative acts of 1786 and 1798. Its name is attributed by some to Isaac Green, an early settler, by others to General Nathaniel Greene. Greenville County has an area of 761 square miles and a population of almost entirely native born whites and 23,461 Negroes.
Stretching from the Blue Ridge Mountains at the North Carolina to the Piedmont plains eastward, Greenville County has a wide range of elevation. The mountainous area on the west is a beautiful and attractive pleasure resort, the two highest peaks being Caesars head, 3,218 feet and Hogback Mountain of a few feet greater altitude. Five miles northeast of the city of Greenville is Paris Mountain, an isolated group of peaks rising to 2,054 feet above sea level.
In Greenville County, the soil, mostly of the Cecil series, is adapted to a wide variety of crops. Farming is conducted successfully in all parts of Greenville County, particularly in the fertile region of the eastern half. Cotton is the principal crop, the normal production being upward of 40,000 bales. Dairying, poultry raising, and trucking are developing on profitable scale; orcharding, begun a few years ago, has reached extensive proportioins, 82 cars of peaches having been shipped to outside markets in 1926. Forests, including many varieties of hardwood, abound in the upper half of Greenville County. The average rainfall is 53 inches; average growing season 215 days.
The city of Greenville, elsewhere described, is Greenville countys seat. Other incorporated twons include Fountain Inn, SC, 1100; Simpsonville SC, 566, and Greer SC, 2,292, all industrial and commercial centers.
Greenville County has 191 schools, including 15 accredited high schools; the enrollment in 1926 was 30,269; the investment in Greenville real estate including buildings and grounds is estimated at $2,909,750, about 18 times the Greenville school investment in 1909.
The Southern railways main line, Washington to Atlanta, and its Columbia Sc and Greenville SC division form a junction in Greenville Sc. The Piedmont and Northern, electric, connects Spartanburg South Carolina, Greenville South Carolina, Anderson South Carolina and Greenwood SC, and the Charleston SC and Western Carolina, subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line, has a terminus in Greenville South Carolina. The Greenville and Northern has a line toward the mountains, but is not operating regular schedules.
State and local highways serve all parts of Greenville County SC. There are 500 miles of well maintained topsoil roads, 50 miles of permanently paved roads exclusive of city paving, and four important national motor routes (National highway, Dixie highway, Bankhead highway and Piedmont Air Line) pass through Greenville South Carolina. Greenville County leads the state in number of automobiles having approximately 13,000 registered in 1926.
