Greenville, South Carolina

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Greenville
Nickname : G-Vegas
Skyline at night
Skyline at night
Location in South Carolina
SCMap-doton-Greenville.PNG
Basic data
Foundation : 1831
State : United States
State : South carolina
County : Greenville County
Coordinates : 34 ° 51 ′  N , 82 ° 23 ′  W Coordinates: 34 ° 51 ′  N , 82 ° 23 ′  W
Time zone : Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Inhabitants :
Metropolitan Area :
67,453 (as of 2016)
884,975 (as of 2016)
Population density : 999.3 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 67.7 km 2  (approx. 26 mi 2 ) of
which 67.5 km 2  (approx. 26 mi 2 ) is land
Height : 307 m
Postcodes : 29601-29617
Area code : +1 864
FIPS : 45-30850
GNIS ID : 1245842
Website : www.greenvillesc.gov
Mayor : Knox White

Greenville is a city in northwestern South Carolina and the administrative seat of the county of the same name . It has 58,409 inhabitants (as of 2010 census) on an area of ​​67.7 km 2 and is 307  m above the Piedmont Plateau.

The so-called Greenville- Spartanburg - Anderson Combined Statistical Area in northwestern South Carolina , consisting of 8 counties with a total of approx. 1.2 million inhabitants, is also known as the Upstate . The name alludes to the region's elevated position on the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains compared to the rest of the state .

Greenville is about halfway between the cities of Atlanta, Georgia and Charlotte, North Carolina on Interstate I-85 . The city is still connected to I-185 and I-385 .

history

Around 1770, the Indian merchant Richard Pearis founded a large plantation with a sawmill on land that he had bought from the Cherokees . In the American War of Independence he fought with the Cherokees on the side of the English. After their defeat, the land was divided among the patriotic soldiers, the place was called Pleasantburg in 1797 and was given its current name in 1831 after the general of the North American troops Nathanael Greene . After 1815 the first schools, churches and factories were established. In 1853 Greenville was connected to the rail network. As a secessionist retreat, Greenville survived the American Civil War relatively lightly. In 1869 the place with then 2757 inhabitants was named a city.

Between 1895 and the time after the First World War, Greenville experienced a heyday of the textile industry through the processing of cotton from the area, combined with a large population influx and a construction boom. In the mid-1920s, Greenville had 50,000 residents. The invasion of the boll beetle in 1926 triggered a major economic crisis in the cotton mills.

In the 1950s and 1960s the cotton mills closed; a service and speculation boom with real estate set in, which, however, repeatedly led to setbacks.

economy

The main industry of Greenville today is the automotive industry . The International Center for Automotive Research (ICAR) is currently being built in Greenville. The nearby Clemson University , the BMW Group , IBM , Microsoft , Michelin , the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Sun Microsystems and Timken are involved .

The automobile manufacturer BMW operates its only automobile plant in North America about halfway along Interstate 85 between Greenville and Spartanburg, about 50 kilometers away. It is in Spartanburg County, however . The BMW X3 , X5 and X6 are currently being produced here. The X4 has also been produced here since 2013, and the X7 will follow in 2018.

With the settlement of the automobile industry and the resulting increased income for the city, the city center in particular was continuously upgraded. A park, numerous bars and restaurants make it look extraordinarily European in contrast to other inner cities of the same size. The annual 3-day street festival in autumn (“Greenville Fall”) also plays a major role in this.

With the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport , the region also has an important regional airport.

university

At Furman University , founded in 1826, around 3,000 students receive classes. There is also a traditional college of the Southern Baptist Convention .

Trivia

Greenville's society in the 1950s forms the background for Dorothy Allison's semi-autobiographical novel, Bastard Out of Carolina , in which a young first-person narrator talks about the contempt of the middle classes for the " white trash ", of which they are stronger is affected than by poverty.

In early 2007, Greenville was one of the filming locations for the Hollywood film A Tempting Game (Originally: Leatherheads ) with George Clooney , John Krasinski and Renée Zellweger in the lead roles.

sons and daughters of the town

Name variants

The city has a few different names:

  • Greenville City
  • Greenville Court House
  • Greenville Courthouse
  • Pleasantburg
  • Pleasantville

Twin cities

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of Greenville
  2. dpa: Lower currency risk: BMW builds X3 successor in the USA - WirtschaftsWoche. In: WirtschaftsWoche. May 15, 2007, accessed April 23, 2009 .
  3. ^ New York 1992.
  4. ^ Richardson, James M. History of Greenville County, South Carolina, Narrative and Biographical. Spartanburg, SC Reprint Co., 1980. p41
  5. ^ US Postal Guide, various edition dates. Use code US-T133 / YYYY. 1887
  6. ^ Huff, Archie Vernon, Jr. Greenville: The History of the City and County in the South Carolina Piedmont. Colombia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1995. p66
  7. ^ Names in South Carolina. vols. 1-28. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina, 1954-1981. v17 / p6
  8. ^ Names in South Carolina. vols. 1-28. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina, 1954-1981. v25 / p24
Commons : Greenville  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files