Townville, South Carolina

Episode 124 / 20 June 2019 / 147 min / full

Saving It For Later

"We're going down into Townville, South Carolina ... This town is in Anderson County." about 0:05:34

The case: Murder of Shane Walters, Stacy Walters and Sonya Khan (November 1997). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2019

Population

4,177

Median age

47.8

Median household income

$54,000

Median home value

$233,800

Two-bedroom rent

$880

Cost of living

106

Religious

66%

Property crime

slightly high, but pretty much at average

Violent crime

right at average

History, in brief

• The area was first settled by the Cherokee, who sided with the British during the American Revolution; after the war their land was acquired as war reparations. about 0:07:21
• In 1791 the South Carolina legislature created the Washington District out of Greenville, Anderson, Oconee and Pickens counties, but Townville was never incorporated. about 0:09:00
• Anderson is named after Robert Anderson, a Revolutionary War soldier who explored the region in the mid-eighteenth century. about 0:09:42
• The Johnson Female Seminary was founded in 1851 and named after William Johnson. about 0:10:13
• During the Civil War the seminary, by then Johnson University, was closed and converted into a Confederate treasury. about 0:11:32
• A Union garrison was stationed in the area after the Civil War. about 0:12:02
• Anderson became one of the first cities in the South-East to have electricity and called itself the Electric City. about 0:12:11
• William Whitner established electricity in the town in 1889 with a hydroelectric plant on the Rocky River. about 0:12:44
• Anderson was the first city in the world to supply a cotton gin with electricity. about 0:13:33
• In 1897 the power plant was upgraded with a large generating station, and Portman Shoals became the first hydroelectric plant in the United States to generate high voltage without step-up transformers. about 0:14:14
• The Portman Dam was swept away in 1901 and Anderson was in darkness until it was rebuilt in 1902. about 0:15:06
• Anderson College was established in 1911 by the Anderson Chamber of Commerce as a successor to the Johnson Female Seminary and was affiliated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention. about 0:15:53
• Anderson College became co-educational in 1930 and was renamed Anderson University in 2006. about 0:16:39
• A 1925-26 assessment of Anderson County recorded twelve accredited high schools and public school enrolment of 14,838 white children and 6,395 coloured children. about 0:17:11
• Eight car loads of poultry were shipped from the county during the autumn and winter of 1925-26. about 0:18:33
• Jim Rice, the Boston Red Sox power hitter and Hall of Famer, is from the area. about 0:19:06
• Larry Nance, the sportscaster, is also from the area. about 0:19:20
• A 14-year-old carried out a school shooting in Townville, killing his father and a first grader, after writing in his diary that he hoped to kill fifty or sixty people. about 0:19:58

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