Spartanburg, South Carolina

File:SpartanburgDowntown.jpg

Downtown Spartanburg, South Carolina. Visible is the large skyscraper, world headquarters of Denny's Restaraunt. Extended Stay America & Advance America's world headquarters are to the right, on either side of Church Street (the road running top to bottom).

Spartanburg is a city located in Spartanburg County in South Carolina, a state of the United States of America, and 98 miles (158 km) northwest of Columbia. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 39,673. Spartanburg's Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) population is 264,230 and the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson Combined Statistical Area (CSA) population is 1,173,433 according to 2004 estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. It is the county seat of Spartanburg CountyTemplate:GR and the second largest city of the three primary cities in the Upstate region.

History

In order to establish rule over the lawless backcountry of South Carolina, in 1789 a courthouse and a jail were established near a spring. These buildings were in the center of a large rectangular plot of land around which lots were laid out. The spring acted as the settlement's water supply, and over time, more people began to settle in the area. The village of Spartanburgh was established in 1831 (2006 marks the City's 175th anniversary). Over time the "h" was dropped. In the 1870s the village's status was changed to "city," which was a testament to the rapid growth that was occurring in the area.

When the United States entered World War I in 1917 one of the 16 divisional cantonments, Camp Wadsworth, for the training of National Guard troops, was established near the town in the vicinity of present Westgate Mall. A South Carolina historical marker is located on W.O. Ezell Boulevard. Most of the New York State troops were trained there.

During World War II Camp Croft south of the city trained Army recruits. This is now a SC State park with the same name. Some portions of the park contain the original kwanza (1/2 metal tube structures).

Hampton Heights was the first historic district in Spartanburg listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Facts:

• Duncan Park Stadium is the nation's oldest Minor Leage stadium.
• The first Hardee's franchise was located in Spartanburg on E Kennedy St.
• The decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan during World War II was made in Converse Heights

Origin of Name

The name Spartanburg is believed to be derived from the Spartan Regiment, which was formed in this area in 1776. The regiment served with distinction throughout the American Revolution. This explanation appears both in the WPA History of Spartanburg County and in J.B.O. Landrum’s History of Spartanburg County. Mr. Landrum goes on to state that the people of this area "Were indeed a Spartan people, and were willing to sacrifice their lives, if necessary, to meet all the difficulties which surrounded them. They had already, in previous wars with the Indians, undergone trials and sacrifices which justly entitled them to this honored name. Like the ancient Spartans of Greece, they were inured to hardship and sacrifices, and cherished the heroic virtues of courage, fortitude, patriotism, and public spirit."

Geography

Spartanburg is located at 34°56'48" North, 81°55'39" West (34.946771, -81.927603)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 49.9 km² (19.2 mi²). 49.6 km² (19.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.47% water.

The average annual temperature is 60.6 °F (15.9 °C), with the average January temperature being 41.8 °F (5.4 °C) and the average July temperature as 80.5 °F (26.9 °C). There are four distinct but not extreme seasons. Average precipitation is 47.5 inches (1206 mm) and the average growing season is 231 days.

Government

The mayor, elected in January 2002, is William Barnet III. Located on East St. John street is Barnet Park which was named for Mayor Barnet. City Hall is located at 145 West Broad St.

The County Administration Building (this is the old Sears building which was vacated in the mid-1970s when Sears moved to Westgate Mall and renovated in the late 1980s or early 1990s)is located at 366 North Church Street. It is across the street from the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium.

Economy

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BMW Zentrum, the visitor center of BMW's Spartanburg, South Carolina manufacturing plant

The economy of Spartanburg benefits from the BMW manufacturing facility located in the western end of Spartanburg County. Manufacturing began in 1996 with certain types of the 3 Series (from the E36 platform) and with the Z3 roadster. However, a year later when the newer 3 Series (E46) platform emerged, BMW decided not to build it at the Spartanburg plant, but instead exclusively manufacture variants of the popular Z4. The plant currently manufactures its Z4 roadster and X5 SUV.

Spartanburg is also home to the world headquarters and research facility for Milliken & Company. With over 12,000 associates located at more than 60 facilities worldwide, Milliken is one of the largest privately held textile and chemical manufacturers in the world. Milliken is consistently recognized as an industry leader, and has received numerous awards for its leadership and contributions in the areas of quality, safety, and innovation. Milliken has also been recognized as one of the top employers in the U.S.; it was ranked 16th and 38th in FORTUNE Magazine’s 2004 and 2006 lists of the “100 Best Companies to Work For”.

The world headquarters of Denny's restaurants is also located in Spartanburg. QS/1 Data Systems and Extended Stay America have earch constructed new office buildings downtown to serve as their respective headquarters.

Spartanburg is serviced by two airports, Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport, a small, mostly private airport, and Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP), a large, international airport.

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QS/1 Data Systems Headquarters

Education

College Town

Spartanburg is a "College Town", and it has six institutions of higher learning:

• The University of South Carolina Upstate (formerly known as University of South Carolina - Spartanburg).
• Converse College- A private women's liberal arts college.
• Spartanburg Methodist College- The only 2 year, private, residential college in the state.
• Spartanburg Technical College
• Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic- South Carolina's only chiropractic college
• Wofford College- A private liberal arts college.

Public & Private Schools

Spartanburg is served by the Spartanburg County School System, which is divided into seven individual districts. Some of the districts share a vocational school. The city of Spartanburg is located in primarily in District 7 of and partially in District 6.

• School District One
• School District Two
• School District Three
• School District Four
• School District Five
• School District Six
• School District Seven

Spartanburg also holds the Spartanburg Day School, a K-12 private school with multiple recent state championships in several sports. Its headmaster is Chris Dorrance.

Spartanburg is home to the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind.

Attractions

Spartanburg is home to many of the Upstate's attractions and arts/cultural venues as well as Greenville.

Spartanburg is home to many events throughout the year:

• Spring Fling, a weekend festival typically held the first Saturday of May, has many live artists, rides, and other assorted attractions. Features include the sidewalk arts show along the fence of Converse College.

• The International Festival at Barnet Park- first Saturday in October
• Music on Main
• Jamboread Reading Festival

Other attractions include:

• The Beacon Drive-In is a landmark of regional proportions; it has stood since 1946 and has become a famous restaurant for old-fashioned service and sweet tea.

• Ballet Spartanburg which has hosted over 22 national and international ballet companies.

• Several golf courses, including two private 18-hole courses at the Country Club of Spartanburg and the Carolina Country Club.

• The annual Miss South Carolina Pageant

• Cowpens National Battlefield

Sports

Spartanburg is host to the Carolina Panthers Training Camp each year at Wofford College's Gibbs Stadium.

Historic Duncan Park Stadium is home to the Spartanburg Stingers in the Coastal Plain League and the Spartanburg Crickets in the Southern Collegiate Baseball League.

USC Upstate Spartans, Spartanburg Methodist College Pioneers, and the Wofford College Terriers offer a variety of sports for both men and women.

Spartanburg is also located an hour away from the University of South Carolina Gamecocks and the Clemson Tigers.

Arts/Culture

• The Arts Center
• Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium
• Twichell Auditorium

Spartanburg is experiencing major changes in its downtown area as of recent times. The 'Renaissance Project' is a large-scale revamping plan. A nine-floor, 240-room Marriot has been built downtown. The historic downtown is centered around Morgan Square, which was rennovated in late 2006. QS/1 Data Systems completed construction of their new regional headquarters in late 2004, at the intersection of North Daniel Morgan Avenue and West St John Street (see photo, above). Extended Stay America and Advance America have both built their world headquarters in recent times downtown.

• The Arts Center is situated on S. Spring St., at the entrance to the historic Hampton Heights neighborhood. The Arts Partnership of Greater Spartanburg provides curtural leadership for many organizations housed here including the Museum of Art, Little Theatre, Music Foundation, Science Center and more. The Arts Center will move to a new facility at St. John and Converse Sts. in 2007.

• The Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium is located on S. Church Street, across from the municipal building in the southeast end of the city of Spartanburg. The "SMA" has hosted various famous celebrities such as Billy Joel, David Copperfield, Lewis Grizzard, Harry Connick Jr., Gerald Lavert, Dave Chappelle, Jerry Seinfeld, and many others. Originally built in an Art Deco style and was renovated ca. 2002 inclding a new facade and backstage with loading area (Ernest Everett Blevins 09:22, 7 January 2006 (UTC)).

• Twitchell Auditorium is located on the campus of Converse College. Home of the Greater Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Twitchell Auditorium has served as hosts to other groups such as The Spartanburg All-County High School Band and Boston Brass. Twitchell Auditorium was built in 1899 and renovated for the school's centennial celebration in 1989. Famous for its acoustics, the 1500-seat auditorium is home to a a 57-rank Casavant Freres organ with 2,600+ pipes.

Media

• Spartanburg's primary newspaper is the Herald-Journal, a member of the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group. The paper is on the Web at GoUpstate.com
• The Spartanburg Journal is a weekly newspaper that is part of a Community Journal group that also has editions in Greenville and Anderson.

Spartanburg is part of the much greater Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson-Asheville DMA which is the nation's 35th largest and is served by the following major network television affiliates:

WYFF 4 (NBC)

WSPA 7 (CBS)

WLOS 13 (ABC)

WHNS 21 (FOX)

WBSC 40 (WB)

WASV 62 (UPN).

Transportation

Spartanburg is located along the Interstate 85 corridor, between Charlotte, North Carolina and Greenville, South Carolina. Two spurs of Interstate 85 are located in the area: Interstate 585, which morphs into Pine Street and carries traffic downtown, and the Interstate 85 Business Loop, which brings traffic closer to Spartanburg, following the previous course of the interstate, while the primary route of Interstate 85 loops to the north of Spartanburg. Interstate 26 is the other major interstate on which Spartanburg lies, allowing commuters to travel to Asheville, North Carolina, to the north, and Columbia, South Carolina, to the south.

Spartanburg has access to two airports.

• The Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP) lies mostly in Spartanburg County in suburban Greer, and it serves Greenville as well as Spartanburg. Greenville-Spartanburg International is the state's busiest airport.
• The Spartanburg Downtown Memorial Airport (SPA) is owned and operated by the City, and lies south of town.

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SPARTA Passenger Center

Spartanburg is served by the Spartanburg Area Regional Transit Agency or SPARTA. SPARTA serves the City of Spartanburg and the surrounding urbanized area with 8 routes leading to a wide variety of destinations. The new SPARTA Passenger Center is located at 100 North Liberty St.

Amtrak's Crescent train connects Spartanburg with the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Charlotte, Atlanta, Birmingham and New Orleans. The Amtrak station is situated at 290 Magnolia Street.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there are 39,673 people, 15,989 households, and 9,721 families residing in the city. The population density is 799.9/km² (2,066.3/mi²). There are 17,696 housing units at an average density of 356.8/km² (923.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 47.15% White, 49.55% African American, 0.18% Native American, 1.33% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.76% from other races, and 0.96% from two or more races. 1.78% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 15,989 households out of which 28.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.0% are married couples living together, 23.0% have a female householder with no husband present, and 39.2% are non-families. 34.0% of all households are made up of individuals and 13.2% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.33 and the average family size is 3.00.

In the city the population is spread out with 25.2% under the age of 18, 12.2% from 18 to 24, 26.6% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 35 years. For every 100 females there are 79.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 73.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $28,735, and the median income for a family is $36,108. Males have a median income of $30,587 versus $23,256 for females. The per capita income for the city is $18,136. 23.3% of the population and 19.4% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 34.6% of those under the age of 18 and 15.4% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

List of Neighborhoods

• Arcadia
• Asheville Highway
• Beaumont Mills
• Ben Avon
• Bradford Commons
• Bradford Crossing
• Bradford Place
• Bradford West
• Brentwood Hills (now considered a part of Converse Heights)
• Camp Croft
• Cannons Campground
• Carolina Country Club
• Cedar Springs
• Clevedale
• Cleveland Heights
• Cleveland Park
• Converse Heights
• Drayton
• Duncan Park
• Fairforest
• Fernwood
• Fernwood-Glendale Rd.
• Glendale
• Hampton Heights (National Register of Historic Places district)
• Hillbrook
• Hillcrest
• Hilltop
• Hwy. 9
• John B. White Sr. Blvd.
• Londonderry
• Mayfair
• Oak Forest
• Poplar Springs
• Roebuck
• Saxon
• Shadow Lakes
• Shoresbrook
• Springdale
• Swan Estates
• Una
• Union Street
• Woodland Heights
• Woodridge
• Westgate
• Westview
• Whitestone
• Whitney

Famous People from Spartanburg

• Pink Anderson (1900-1974) -- Blues Musician.
• David Ball (1953--) -- Country Musician.
• Kate Barry (1752-1823) -- Scout and heroine of the revolution, she warned of the British attack at Cowpens.
• James Francis Byrnes (1882-1972)-- Spartanburg lawyer, congressman, senator, Supreme Court Justice (only person to step down off the bench for another federal post -- head the wartime Office of Economic Stabilization), advisor to FDR, Secretary of State to Truman, Governor of SC. Ernest Everett Blevins 09:25, 7 January 2006 (UTC)
• Wilson Casey (1954--) -- Trivia Guinness World Record Holder, Nationally Syndicated Newspaper Trivia Columnist.
• David Daniels (1966--) -- Countertenor.
• Stephen Davis - American football running back
• Grace Annette DuPre (1894-1984) -- Renowned South Carolina violinist and portraitist. James F. Byrnes and Harry S. Truman were among her subjects.
• Dennis Hayes (1950--) -- Inventor of the Hayes Modem.
• Walter Hyatt (1950-1996) -- Country Musician.
• Kenneth Law -- cellist
• Margaret Law (1871-1956) -- Artist who studied with William Merritt Chase and Robert Henri.
• D.H. 'Buck' Long (1929-2002) -- Former president and general manager of WKRG-TV, Inc. in Mobile, Alabama
• David Pearson (1940--) -- Race car driver.
• Donald S. Russell (1906-1998) -- Former South Carolina governor, president of the University of South Carolina, US Senator, and member of the US 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
• Archibald Rutledge (1883-1973) -- South Carolina poet laureate who resided in Spartanburg for about 20 years.
• William "Singing Billy" Walker (1809-1875) -- Developed a distinct method of teaching called "shape-note" singing. Author of Southern Harmony. Buried in Magnolia Cemetery.
• David Duncan Wallace (1874-1951) -- Historian and author.
• General William C. Westmoreland (1914-2005) -- Served in World War II and the Korean War and was senior US military commander in Vietnam.
• Celia Weston -- Actress
• The Marshall Tucker Band -- Southern rock band featuring Doug Grey, Jerry Eubanks, Toy Caldwell, Tommy Caldwell, et. al.
• The DesChamps Band -- A bluegrass band composed of four former high school students: Rob Teter, Marshall Hood, Jeff Brown, and Matt Parks.

External links

• Spartanburg Herald-Journal
• Spartanburg Tourism Commission
• Official Website of the City of Spartanburg
• William Barnet III biography
• BMW Spartanburg Manufacturing Plant
• Spartanburg Marriott at Renaissance Park
• Spartanburg Discussions on UrbanPlanet.org