Laurens County is a
county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
located in the
U.S. state of
South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = "Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = G ...
. As of the
2020 census, its population was 67,539.
Its
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...
is
Laurens.
Laurens County is included in the
Greenville-
Anderson-
Mauldin, SC
Metropolitan Statistical Area
In the United States, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is a geographical region with a relatively high population density at its core and close economic ties throughout the area. Such regions are neither legally Incorporated town, incorporate ...
.
History
Laurens County was formed on March 12, 1785. It was named after
Henry Laurens, the fifth president of the
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...
.
One of nine modern counties of the Colonial Ninety-Six District, Laurens County hosted more "official" (i.e. officially recognized and contemporaneously documented by competent governments) battles than did half of the original colonies. The
Battle of Musgrove Mill was the first time during the American Revolution that regular soldiers of Great Britain were defeated in battle by militia.
Those battles in modern Laurens County were:
# Fort Lindley/Lindler
# Widow Kellet's Block House
# Musgrove's Mill
# Farrow's Station
# Duncan Creek Meeting House
# Indian Creek
# Hammond's Store
# Fort Williams (not to be confused with Williamson's fort some 25 miles south in Greenwood County)
# Cedar Springs (begun in Cross Anchor SC, then an old-fashioned "Hoss Chase" of fifty eight miles through four counties and ended in NC after about 30 hours!)
# Mud Lick Creek
# Hayes' Station. (Joe Goldsmith, State Historian, SC Soc., Sons of the American Revolution)
Geography
According to the
U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.4%) is water.
National protected areas
*
Belfast Wildlife Management Area
Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...
(part)
*
Sumter National Forest
The Sumter National Forest is one of two forests in South Carolina that are managed together by the United States Forest Service, the other being the Francis Marion National Forest. The Sumter National Forest consists of which are divided into 3 ...
(part)
State and local protected areas/sites
*
Lake Rabon Park
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
*
Laurens County Park Laurens may refer to:
Places
United States
* Laurens County, Georgia
* Laurens, Iowa, a city
* Laurens (town), New York
* Laurens (village), New York
* Laurens, South Carolina, a city
* Laurens County, South Carolina
* Fort Laurens, an Ameri ...
*
Musgrove Mill State Historic Site
Major water bodies
*
Bush River
*
Enoree River
*
Lake Greenwood
*
Lake Ribbon
*
Saluda River
Adjacent counties
*
Spartanburg County
Spartanburg County is a county located on the northwestern border of the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 327,997, making it the fifth-most populous county in South Carolina. Its county seat is Spartanburg ...
- north
*
Union County - northeast
*
Newberry County - southeast
*
Greenwood County - south
*
Abbeville County - southwest
*
Anderson County - west
*
Greenville County
Greenville County is located in the state of South Carolina, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 525,534, making it the most populous county in the state. Its county seat is Greenville. The county is also home to ...
- northwest
Major highways
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Major infrastructure
*
Laurens County Airport
Demographics
2020 census
As of the
2020 United States census, there were 67,539 people, 25,901 households, and 16,961 families residing in the county.
2010 census
As of the
2010 United States Census, there were 66,537 people, 25,525 households, and 17,707 families living in the county.
The population density was . There were 30,709 housing units at an average density of .
The racial makeup of the county was 70.4% white, 25.4% black or African American, 0.3% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.1% Pacific islander, 2.3% from other races, and 1.3% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 4.1% of the population.
In terms of ancestry, 11.8% were
American, 9.8% were
Irish, 9.6% were
German, and 8.8% were
English.
Of the 25,525 households, 32.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.6% were married couples living together, 17.2% had a female householder with no husband present, 30.6% were non-families, and 26.1% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.00. The median age was 39.9 years.
The median income for a household in the county was $37,529 and the median income for a family was $45,769. Males had a median income of $36,807 versus $26,799 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,757. About 14.1% of families and 19.2% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 31.0% of those under age 18 and 14.6% of those age 65 or over.
2000 census
As of the
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...
of 2000, there were 69,567 people, 26,290 households, and 18,876 families living in the county. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...
was 97 people per square mile (38/km
2). There were 30,239 housing units at an average density of 42 per square mile (16/km
2). The racial makeup of the county was 71.57%
White
White is the lightness, lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully diffuse reflection, reflect and scattering, scatter all the ...
, 26.23%
Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...
or
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...
, 0.28%
Native American, 0.15%
Asian, 0.05%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of Ocea ...
, 0.95% from
other races, and 0.78% from two or more races. 1.94% of the population were
Hispanic
The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad.
The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...
or
Latino of any race.
There were 26,290 households, out of which 32.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.10% were married couples living together, 15.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.20% were non-families. 24.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.01.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 25.30% under the age of 18, 9.20% from 18 to 24, 28.50% from 25 to 44, 23.80% from 45 to 64, and 13.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 93.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.70 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $33,933, and the median income for a family was $39,739. Males had a median income of $30,402 versus $21,684 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population.
Per capita i ...
for the county was $15,761. About 11.60% of families and 14.30% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 19.60% of those under age 18 and 13.50% of those age 65 or over.
As of December 2017, the county unemployment rate was 4.4%.
Government and politics
During the
1870 South Carolina gubernatorial election,
Joseph Crews
Joseph Crews (1823September 13, 1875) was an American state legislator and Reconstructionist militia leader from Laurens County, South Carolina, during the Reconstruction era. He was the state's highest-ranking military official in the 1870s, an ...
was a county election commissioner in Laurens County, and in that capacity had ordered all ballot boxes to be set up in the county seat. This disadvantaged rural voters, but enabled him and the state militia to oversee the election process and to mobilize black voters. However, armed whites attacked the black militia and disarmed them; some were wounded, others murdered. "Like companies of Confederate cavalry", "heavily armed whites" pushed away black voters—until Federal troops came from twenty miles away, with Crews, and took the ballot boxes.
but was murdered by
Democrats in the run-up to the
1876 South Carolina gubernatorial election
The 1876 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1876 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. The election campaign was a referendum on the Radical Republican-led state government and their Reconstruction poli ...
.
[
Until 1948, Laurens County was a Democratic Party stronghold similar to the rest of the ]Solid South
The Solid South or Southern bloc was the electoral voting bloc of the states of the Southern United States for issues that were regarded as particularly important to the interests of Democratic Party (United States), Democrats in those states. T ...
, with Democratic presidential candidates receiving near-unanimous margins of victory in most years. The 20 years from 1948 to 1968 were a highly transitional time for the politics of South Carolina and Laurens County, largely in part due to the Democratic Party's increasing support for African-American civil rights and enfranchisement. South Carolinian Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond Sr. (December 5, 1902June 26, 2003) was an American politician who represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 to 2003. Prior to his 48 years as a senator, he served as the 103rd governor of South Caro ...
won the county in 1948, and Democrats won it back from 1952 to 1960. Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the United States Republican Party, Republ ...
's opposition to the Civil Rights Act led the county to turn Republican for the first time in 1964, which it remained for Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was t ...
's two electoral victories. The county flipped to the Democratic column to support Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 19 ...
from neighboring Georgia in 1976 and 1980, the last Democrat to win the county. From 1984, the county has been consistently Republican in presidential elections, often by wide margins of victory.
2016 presidential election
Education
There are three public school districts in the county. Laurens County District 55 covers what is generally the northeastern half of the county while District 56 covers the southwestern half. The Ware Shoals area is covered by the multi-county Greenwood County District 51. There are two public high schools in the county: Laurens (in Dist. 55) and Clinton
Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...
(in Dist. 56.)
Public K-12 education includes Hickory Tavern Elementary, Ford Elementary, Gray Court-Owings, E.B. Morse, Hickory Tavern Middle, Laurens Middle, and Sanders Middle.
Private K-12 education includes Laurens Academy.
Presbyterian College, located in Clinton, is a four-year liberal-arts school founded in 1880.
Communities
Cities
* Clinton
Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...
* Fountain Inn (mostly in Greenville County
Greenville County is located in the state of South Carolina, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 525,534, making it the most populous county in the state. Its county seat is Greenville. The county is also home to ...
)
* Laurens (county seat and largest city)
Towns
* Cross Hill
* Gray Court
* Ware Shoals (mostly in Greenwood Green wood is unseasoned wood.
Greenwood or Green wood may also refer to:
People
* Greenwood (surname)
Settlements
Australia
* Greenwood, Queensland, a locality in the Toowoomba Region
* Greenwood, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth
C ...
, partly in Abbeville
Abbeville (, vls, Abbekerke, pcd, Advile) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France.
It is the chef-lieu of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital o ...
Counties)
* Waterloo
Waterloo most commonly refers to:
* Battle of Waterloo, a battle on 18 June 1815 in which Napoleon met his final defeat
* Waterloo, Belgium, where the battle took place.
Waterloo may also refer to:
Other places
Antarctica
*King George Island (S ...
Census-designated places
* Joanna
Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from from he, יוֹחָנָה, translit=Yôḥānāh, lit=God is gracious. Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janic ...
* Mountville
* Princeton
* Watts Mills
Unincorporated communities
* Barksdale
* Hickory Tavern
* Kinards (partly in Newberry County)
* Madden
* Owings
Notable people
* James Adair, (c.1709–c.1783), historian, resided in Laurens County in later life.
* Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a D ...
, 17th president of the United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal gove ...
, worked as a tailor in Laurens during the 1820s.
* William Y. Thompson
William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conques ...
(born 1922), historian, resided in Clinton from 1950 to 1955.
* William Dunlap Simpson, 78th governor of South Carolina and chief justice of the South Carolina Supreme Court from 1880 to 1890.
* Pat Cannon
Arthur Patrick Cannon (May 22, 1904 – January 23, 1966) was a four-term United States Representative from Florida, serving from 1939 to 1947.
Early life and education
Cannon was born in Powder Springs, Georgia and later moved to Laurens ...
, United States Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together the ...
from Florida; raised in Laurens County.
See also
* List of counties in South Carolina
The U.S. state of South Carolina is made up of 46 counties, the maximum allowable by state law. They range in size from 359 square miles (930 square kilometers) in the case of Calhoun County to 1,358 square miles (3,517 square kilometers) in t ...
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Laurens County, South Carolina
* List of national forests of the United States
* List of wilderness areas of the United States
The National Wilderness Preservation System includes 803 wilderness areas protecting of federal land . They are managed by four agencies:
*United States National Park Service (NPS)
*United States Forest Service (USFS)
*United States Fish and Wil ...
References
External links
*
*
Laurens County Chamber of Commerce
ACCESS 15
Laurens County Public, educational, and government access (PEG) cable TV
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
channel
Laurens County, South Carolina DNA Project
Laurens County / Laurens Historic District
Laurens County at Roots and Recall
{{Coord, 34.48357, -82.00593, format=dms, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-SC_source:wikidata
1785 establishments in South Carolina
Populated places established in 1785
Upstate South Carolina