The Scholar’s Tour of Spartanburg County
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
Historical documents often give researchers an understanding of the social history of a place and how residents interacted with one another in the past. Libraries are one of my favorite places to visit when I go to a new town. This type of historical preservation is a quieter more nuanced art and it tends to be overlooked by visitors. However, if you find yourself in Spartanbur
Continue Reading >Spartanburg’s German Connection
Monday, February 08, 2016
Raise your hand if, when you think of Germans in Spartanburg, you think BMW? Me too—so I was surprised to learn that there are 27 German manufacturing companies in Spartanburg County and that the German community here predates BMW by decades, going back to the days when textiles were king of the manufacturing landscape. In the 1960s, part of Spartanburg’s strategy for keep
Continue Reading >A New Spin on History – Renovated Textile Mills
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
By Brad Wright, produced in cooperation with the HubCity Writers Project. For anyone who doesn’t know, Spartanburg takes its nickname of “Hub City” from the town’s history as a crossroads for multiple regional rail lines. The engine that propelled the commerce supporting those tracks was the then thriving textile industry. Spartanburg boasted numerous textile mills th
Continue Reading >Railroads in Spartanburg – Creating the Hub City
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
By Sharon Purvis, produced in cooperation with the HubCity Writers Project. Hub City Farmers Market, Hub City Writers Project, Hub-bub, Hub Diggity, the Culinary Hub—it’s impossible not to notice that an awful lot of businesses around Spartanburg have “hub” or “hub city” in the name. To find out why, I paid a visit to the Hub City Railroad Museum on Magnolia Stree
Continue Reading >Spartanburg Taking to the Skies
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
By Sharon Purvis, produced in cooperation with the HubCity Writers Project. When Charles Lindbergh visited South Carolina on his tour of the 48 states following his historic Atlantic crossing in 1927, he came to Spartanburg for the simple reason that it was, at the time, the only airport in the state. I had flown into and out of Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport
Continue Reading >Grist for the Mill
Friday, August 28, 2015
By Meredith Hardwicke, produced in cooperation with the HubCity Writers Project. For those with a love of history in their blood, it’s no secret that Spartanburg is abundant in centuries-old treasures. And because Spartanburg is a community intent on preserving its heritage, there is no shortage of efforts here to preserve our historical landmarks for the next generatio
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