West End is a neighborhood in

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...

. Located across the Reedy River in downtown, the west end became home to

Furman University Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 and named for the clergyman Richard Furman, Furman University is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It became ...

when it was first established in 1852. The school expanded to fill fifty acres and then moved to its current location northwest of the city in 1958. The

Greenville and Columbia Railroad The Greenville and Columbia Railroad was a gauge railroad that served South Carolina in the 19th century. Beginnings The line traces its history back to 1845, when Greenville, South Carolina-area leaders Benjamin Perry, Waddy Thompson Jr., John ...

(now part of Norfolk Southern) arrived there in 1853, bringing increased commercial activity to the neighborhood that had been first settled in the 1830s. This activity was truncated less than a decade later with the coming of the American Civil War of 1861–65. After the war, though, the introduction of new fertilizers made cotton farming profitable again in the area. Cotton and fertilizer warehouses and numerous support industries sprung up. The commercial success, with its accompanying residential requirements, brought churches and schools to the west end. Chicora College was established in 1893 for women before relocating to

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

22 years later. (It merged with Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina in 1930.) After the turn of the twentieth century, many textile mills moved into the area from locations nearer to Greenville's center. But by 1930 the shift from textile mills to

soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...

manufacturing and bottling had begun. As more and more automobiles became common, dealerships and repair shops also were constructed, Since the 1970s the West End has been revitalized after many years of decline. In the 2010s the West End Historic District has become the arts and entertainment center of the city. Anchored in the Falls Park on the Reedy, the Liberty Bridge (a pedestrian

suspension bridge A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck (bridge), deck is hung below suspension wire rope, cables on vertical suspenders. The first modern examples of this type of bridge were built in the early 1800s. Simple suspension bridg ...

) crosses over the Reedy River. The Peace Center provides a venue for a large range of cultural events, while Fluor Field at the West End a provides seasonal home for the Greenville Drive, a minor league affiliate of the Boston Red Sox.

References

Exploregreenville.com website on the West End of Greenville, South Carolina.
- accessed 27 June 2010.
Greenville, South Carolina listing of the West End Historic District.
- accessed 27 June 2010. Neighborhoods in Greenville, South Carolina {{SouthCarolina-geo-stub

See also

References