Chester, South Carolina

Episode 345 / 15 December 2022 / 161 min / full

Age Is Just A Number

"To Chester, South Carolina. Just Chester, one Chester... This is Chester County." about 0:04:32

The case: Murders of Joe Frank and Joy Pittman (the night of November 28, 2001). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2022

Population

5,363

Median age

37.5

Median household income

$22,639 a year

Median home value

$81,700

Two-bedroom rent

$617

Cost of living

77

Religious

52.8%

Property crime

▲ about twice the average of normal

Violent crime

▲ more than twice the average

History, in brief

• The original inhabitants were the Cherokee Indian tribes. about 0:05:50
• Traders came into the area in the early 1700s. about 0:05:50
• The first settlers came in the 1750s to the Rocky Creek and Fishing Creek areas. about 0:05:50
• Early South Carolina settlers were Scotch-Irish immigrants from South Pennsylvania. about 0:06:11
• Settlers travelled to South Carolina on the Great Wagon Road. about 0:06:22
• The western section of the county was settled largely by immigrants, many near the Catawba River. about 0:06:31
• Chester was an agricultural community for a long time before developing into manufacturing in the 1800s when the textile industry boomed. about 0:06:41
• The Chester Manufacturing Company opened in 1888. about 0:06:57
• The mills later became part of Springs Industries, one of the world's largest textile companies. about 0:07:11
• The town motto is 'at the center of it all'. about 0:05:17
• Debbie Allen and her sister Felicia Rashad are from Chester. about 0:07:17

The reviews read out

Open the episode file