Union County, South Carolina

Union County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,244. The county was created in 1785.

Union County is included in the Spartanburg, SC Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also part of the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, SC Combined Statistical Area.

History

Early settlement

The area that includes Union County was once controlled by the Cherokee Indians and they used it as a hunting ground. Up until recent years, one could find numerous arrowheads with little effort throughout the county.

The first European settlers in Union County came from the backcountry of Virginia and Pennsylvania; more than three-fourths were Scots-Irish Presbyterians. It has been suggested that the first group of pioneers arrived as early as 1751. They settled in the northwestern section of the county near a small river that would later be named Fairforest Creek. According to tradition, Mr. McElwaine, a member of the party looked out at the thick woodlands and exclaimed, "What a fair forest!" At the time of their arrival, wild buffalo and horses abounded as well as panthers and cougars, which were called "tigers" or "tygers" by the settlers. This may be where the Tyger River got its name.

The early settlers established Fairforest Presbyterian Church, the first house of worship in Union County. Around 1754, the Brown's Creek area was first settled, about four miles northeast of the present city of Union. A log church or meetinghouse was built and shared among several denominations that could not yet afford their own separate structures. The county and county seat were named for this "Union" church. Quakers arrived in the mid-1750s and settled the southern portion of the county, establishing Cane Creek Church in the Santuc community, and Padgett's Creek Church in the Cross Keys community. The Quakers left in the early 1800s because of their opposition to slavery. Baptists from North Carolina, under the leadership of Rev. Philip Mulkey, reached the Broad River in Fairfield County, SC in 1759. They relocated to Union County in 1762 and in 1771 formally organized into the first Baptist church in the South Carolina upcountry known as Fairforest Baptist Church. Many Baptist churches throughout the upcountry are descended from this original congregation. The congregation later moved to a site on present day SC Hwy 18 between Union and Jonesville where it remains to this day. The Fairforest Church became the headquarters for the Loyalists. Following the war the church became Padgetts Creek Baptist Church.

National protected area

Sumter National Forest (part)

State and local protected areas

Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site
Sumter National Forest - Enoree Ranger District
Thurmond Tract Wildlife Management Area

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|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census 1790–1960 1900–1990 1990–2000 2010

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Racial and ethnic composition

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"

|+Union County, South Carolina – Racial and ethnic composition

!Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic)

!Pop 1980

!Pop 1990

!Pop 2000

!Pop 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" | Pop 2020

!% 1980

!% 1990

!% 2000

!% 2010

!style="background-color: #ffffb3;" |% 2020

|White alone (NH)

|21,532

|21,149

|20,155

|19,146

|style='background: #ffffe6; |17,279

|70.02%

|69.71%

|67.45%

|66.11%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |63.42%

|Black or African American alone (NH)

|8,925

|9,059

|9,247

|9,022

|style='background: #ffffe6; |8,435

|29.02%

|29.86%

|30.95%

|31.15%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |30.96%

|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)

|24

|26

|43

|63

|style='background: #ffffe6; |56

|0.08%

|0.09%

|0.14%

|0.22%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.21%

|Asian alone (NH)

|36

|30

|53

|79

|style='background: #ffffe6; |78

|0.12%

|0.10%

|0.18%

|0.27%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.29%

|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)

|11

|style='background: #ffffe6; |3

|0.03%

|0.04%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.01%

|Other race alone (NH)

|23

|style='background: #ffffe6; |49

|0.00%

|0.01%

|0.02%

|0.08%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.18%

|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)

|170

|335

|style='background: #ffffe6; |906

|0.57%

|1.16%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |3.33%

|Hispanic or Latino (any race)

|234

|69

|199

|282

|style='background: #ffffe6; |438

|0.76%

|0.23%

|0.67%

|0.97%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |1.61%

|Total

|30,751

|30,337

|29,881

|28,961

|style='background: #ffffe6; |27,244

|100.00%

|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, there were 27,244 people, 11,622 households, and 7,701 families residing in the county. The median age was 45.1 years, with 21.4% of residents under the age of 18 and 21.2% aged 65 or older. For every 100 females there were 91.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 88.2 males age 18 and over.

The racial makeup of the county was 63.8% White, 31.1% Black or African American, 0.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% Asian, 0.0% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 0.7% from some other race, and 3.8% from two or more races; Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 1.6% of the population.

According to the 2020 Decennial Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics (DHC) file, 35.7% of residents lived in urban areas, while 64.3% lived in rural areas.

Of the 11,622 households, 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 35.0% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 32.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. There were 13,451 housing units, of which 13.6% were vacant; among occupied housing units, 69.4% were owner-occupied and 30.6% were renter-occupied, with homeowner and rental vacancy rates of 1.6% and 7.4%, respectively. The population density was . There were 14,153 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 66.6% white, 31.3% black or African American, 0.3% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, 0.3% from other races, and 1.2% from two or more races. Those of Hispanic or Latino origin made up 1.0% of the population.

Of the 11,974 households, 31.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.0% were married couples living together, 19.1% had a female householder with no husband present, 32.4% were non-families, and 29.0% of all households were made up of individuals. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.90. The median age was 41.9 years.

Government and politics

In 2020, Union County Sheriff David Taylor was charged with misconduct in office and disseminating obscene material, over lewd and obscene texts sent to a county resident.

Economy

In 2022, the GDP was $822.7 million (about $30,896 per capita), and the real GDP was $709.5 million (about $26,643 per capita) in chained 2017 dollars.

As of April 2024, some of the top employers of the county include Adecco Staffing, CSL Plasma, Dollar General, Gestamp, Milliken & Company, Sonoco, Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, Timken Company, University of South Carolina Union, and Walmart.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+ Employment and Wage Statistics by Industry in Union County, South Carolina - Q3 2023

For some time, the county had three high schools, Union High School, Jonesville High School, and Lockhart High School. As of a council ruling, the three high schools have been consolidated. Jonesville High School and Lockhart High School were closed, and the students were reassigned to Union High School, which has been renamed Union County High School.

Union County High School's Yellow Jackets Football team has seen great success in recent past. They won the 4A State Football Championship in 1990 and 1995, and won the 3A State Title in 1999, 2000, and 2002. They were also state runner-up in 2001. The Yellow Jackets were led to their three most recent championships by former head coach and current State Representative Mike Anthony. He retired following the 2004 season. He was succeeded by Tommy Bobo, former Union High School offensive coordinator who left following the 1999 season to become the head football coach at Wren High School. Bobo led the Jackets to the region championship and the state semi-finals in 2005. Bobo resigned in 2007 after the school board decided to consolidate the three high schools. He accepted a position as an assistant at Spartanburg's Dorman High School. Jonesville High School Coach David Lipsey was hired to replace Bobo and be the first coach of Union County High School.

Union County High School's Junior ROTC program is only one of three teams in the nation to ever go four consecutive years to The George C. Marshall Leadership and Academic Bowl in Washington, DC. Members of that team included Michael Leigh, Tommy McKelvey, Micheal Stewart, Lucas Kelley, Ollie Burns, and Mitchell Ward.

The county is also home to University of South Carolina Union, a satellite campus of the University of South Carolina. The University of South Carolina campus at Union was opened in 1965 and was once home to the USCU Bantams, a junior college basketball team that saw some success at that level before the team was ended in the 1980s. Since 1965, USC-Union has provided low-cost, fully accredited courses that satisfy the degree requirements at the University of South Carolina and at other colleges and universities. The University of South Carolina at Union enrolls between 300 and 400 students each semester. In addition to associate degrees, USC-Union provides special opportunities such as teacher preparation and access to baccalaureate degrees in interdisciplinary studies.

Union county's Carnegie Library was named Best Small Library in America by Library Journal for 2009.

Communities

City

Union (county seat and largest community)

Towns

Carlisle
Jonesville
Lockhart

Census-designated places

Buffalo
Monarch Mill

Unincorporated communities

Cross Keys
Santuc
Fish Dam
Bogansville
Goshen Hill
Pinckney

Notable people

John Duff ( or –June 4, 1799, or ), counterfeiter, hunter, salt maker, judge, cattle thief, and Revolutionary War soldier
William Henry Gist (1807–1874), governor of South Carolina from 1858 to 1860
States Rights Gist (1831–1864), Confederate general in the Civil War
John William Pearson (1808–1864), businessman and Confederate soldier in the Civil War
Howard Franklin Jeter (born 1947), retired diplomat
Susan Smith (born 1971), murderer who killed her two sons and falsely claimed that they were kidnapped by an African-American man; her story gained national attention