58 Fun Facts About Greenville SC

Where does Greenville rank among South Carolina's cities by population, according to the 2020 census?

Greenville ranked sixth in 2020, behind Charleston, Columbia, North Charleston, Mount Pleasant and Rock Hill; its metro area of roughly 920,000 people is the largest in South Carolina.

Which waterway runs through the middle of downtown Greenville?

The Reedy River, a tributary of the Saluda, flows through downtown; Richard Pearis's grist mill at Reedy River Falls in the West End, built around 1770, marks the city's birthplace.

Before colonists arrived, the land that became Greenville was the hunting ground of which Native nation?

The Cherokee hunted this land; in the 1777 Treaty of DeWitt's Corner they ceded nearly all their South Carolina territory, including present-day Greenville, to the state.

What was the village established in 1797 by Lemuel J. Alston called before it took the name Greenville?

Alston laid out the village as Pleasantburg in 1797 on his Prospect Hill estate, but residents called it Greenville and that name stuck; Vardry McBee later bought Alston's land and mansion.

Who is considered the 'father of Greenville' for donating land for churches, academies and a cotton mill?

Vardry McBee gave land for churches, academies and a cotton mill and backed the Greenville & Columbia Railroad, which reached the town in 1853, earning him the title 'father of Greenville'.

Which school did McBee help bring to Greenville from Winnsboro in 1851?

Furman University, founded in 1826 and named for Baptist pastor Richard Furman, relocated from Winnsboro to Greenville in 1851, a move Vardry McBee helped arrange.

Greenville County, formed in 1786, is usually said to be named for which Revolutionary general?

Nathanael Greene, who led the Continental Army's southern campaign, is the usual namesake; Greenville County was created in 1786 from land the Cherokee ceded in 1777, though some credit settler Isaac Green.

By 1915, Greenville's cotton mills had earned it which nickname?

By 1915 Greenville's mills had made it the 'Textile Center of the South'; that year the city staged its first Southern Textile Exposition, housed from 1917 in Textile Hall.

Which 1882 mill on the Reedy River was restored as part of Greenville's Peace Center?

The Huguenot Mill, a plaid-weaving mill built in 1882 on the Reedy River, was restored as part of the Peace Center, where its upper floor became the Huguenot Loft event space.

The Mansion House was demolished in 1925 and replaced by which downtown hotel?

The Poinsett Hotel opened on the Mansion House site in 1925 and, after a late-1990s restoration, reopened in 2000 as the Westin Poinsett, a Main Street landmark.

South Carolina's oldest bridge, an 1820 stone span near Greenville, may be by which Washington Monument architect?

Robert Mills, South Carolina's state engineer and later architect of the Washington Monument, is usually credited with the Poinsett Bridge, an 1820 Gothic-arched stone span over Little Gap Creek, protected as a heritage preserve.

A 1946 Greenville explosion that killed six and injured over 150 involved a tank of what?

A leaking propane tank at the Ideal Laundry exploded on November 19, 1946, killing six people and damaging hundreds of buildings; the blast was reportedly heard some 50 miles away.

Bob Jones University moved to Greenville in 1947 from which city?

Bob Jones College began near Panama City, Florida, in 1927, moved to Cleveland, Tennessee, in 1933 after near-bankruptcy, and relocated to Greenville as Bob Jones University in 1947.

Bob Jones Jr. built the university's art museum by first collecting which style, cheap and unfashionable after WWII?

Bob Jones Jr. began buying Italian Baroque paintings in 1951, when the style was out of favor and cheap; the Museum & Gallery grew to more than 400 European works from the 14th to 19th centuries.

Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport opened in 1962 near which town?

GSP opened in October 1962 near Greer, midway between the two rival cities; textile magnate Roger Milliken pushed them to share one airport, and its field is named for him.

In 2024 GSP was South Carolina's third-busiest airport, behind Charleston and which other?

Myrtle Beach International, fed by Grand Strand tourism, carried more than 3.5 million passengers in 2024, ahead of GSP's roughly 3 million; Charleston led the state with over 6 million.

Which tire maker was persuaded to move its North American headquarters to Greenville in the 1980s?

Michelin, which had opened its first US plants in the Upstate in 1975, moved its North American headquarters to Greenville in the 1980s, and its arrival kicked off a wave of foreign investment in the region.

Which BMW roadster, launched in 1995, was the first model built only at the Spartanburg plant?

The BMW Z3 roadster went into production at Spartanburg in 1995 and was built nowhere else, making it the plant's first exclusive model; it appeared that year in the Bond film GoldenEye.

Which BMW SUV, the company's first, went into production at Spartanburg in 1999?

The BMW X5, the company's first SUV, began production at Spartanburg in 1999; the plant later added the X3, X4, X6, X7 and XM to its lines.

The former Donaldson Air Force Base, now a technology park, hosts production of which fighter jet?

Lockheed Martin moved its F-16 Fighting Falcon production line to the South Carolina Technology and Aviation Center on the former base in 2019; the first Greenville-built F-16 flew in January 2023.

The Peace Center, opened in 1990, takes its name from what?

It was built on the site of three derelict factories, one of which made wagons for the Confederate Army.

Which mayonnaise brand was created in Greenville in 1917 by a woman selling sandwiches to soldiers?

Eugenia Duke began selling sandwiches to Camp Sevier soldiers in 1917; her sugar-free, egg-yolk-rich Duke's Mayonnaise was sold to the C.F. Sauer Company in 1929 and is produced in nearby Mauldin.

Bon Secours Wellness Arena opened in 1998 carrying the name of which grocery chain?

It opened in September 1998 as the Bi-Lo Center, named for the grocery chain founded in Greenville in 1961, replacing the demolished Greenville Memorial Auditorium; it became Bon Secours Wellness Arena in 2013.

Falls Park was founded in 1967 when which group reclaimed 26 acres of old mill land?

The Carolina Foothills Garden Club reclaimed 26 acres of abandoned mill land at the Reedy River falls in 1967; the city's major renovation, finished in 2004, made the park downtown's centerpiece.

What is structurally unusual about the Liberty Bridge in Falls Park?

The 355-foot curved span, designed by Rosales + Partners, won the Arthur G. Hayden medal for innovative design in 2005.

Which structure blocked the view of the falls for four decades until it was torn down in 2002?

The Camperdown Bridge, a four-lane road bridge built in 1960 directly over Reedy River Falls, was demolished in 2002; the Liberty Bridge opened in its place in 2004 and Falls Park became the city's postcard view.

Who became mayor of Greenville in December 1995?

Knox White, an attorney, was sworn in as mayor in December 1995; his years in office saw the Camperdown Bridge come down, the Liberty Bridge rise, and Unity Park open in 2022.

The Swamp Rabbit Trail follows the bed of which defunct railroad?

The Greenville & Northern Railway, nicknamed the 'Swamp Rabbit' line, ran north from Greenville until the 1990s; the county bought its roadbed and the paved trail opened in 2009.

The Swamp Rabbit Trail runs north from downtown Greenville to which town?

The trail follows the old rail line north to Travelers Rest, whose downtown revived around it after the 2009 opening; a Furman study found local businesses reporting sales gains of 30 to 85 percent.

The Greenville Drive's 2006 stadium replicates the dimensions of which major-league park?

Its 'Greenville Monster' in left field is 30 feet high to Fenway's 37, complete with a manual scoreboard, and there is a Pesky's Pole in right.

Which name for the team that became the Greenville Drive was vetoed by Major League Baseball?

'The Joes' would have honored Shoeless Joe Jackson, but Major League Baseball objected because of his lifetime ban after the 1919 Black Sox scandal; 'Drive' nods to the area's auto industry.

The Greenville Drive's mascot is a frog with what name?

Reedy Rip'it, a green frog named for the Reedy River, has been the Drive's mascot since the club's 2006 debut; the Red Sox affiliate won the South Atlantic League title in 2017.

Shoeless Joe Jackson began his professional career in 1908 with which hometown club?

Jackson hit .346 for the Greenville Spinners of the Carolina Association in 1908, and Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics bought his contract for $900 that August.

Why is the Shoeless Joe Jackson Museum, next to the Drive's ballpark, at 356 Field Street?

His original home was moved to the site in 2006 and opened as a museum in 2008; he is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park in the city.

Greenville's ECHL hockey team, now the Swamp Rabbits, played under what name from 2010 to 2015?

The Johnstown Chiefs, an ECHL founding member from 1988, moved south in 2010 to become the Greenville Road Warriors, who were renamed the Swamp Rabbits in 2015.

Which former US midfielder became Greenville Triumph SC's first head coach in 2018?

John Harkes, a US midfielder at the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, coached FC Cincinnati in 2016 before taking the Triumph job; he led them to the 2020 USL League One title.

Which of the two segregated parks merged into Unity Park in 2022 had served Black residents?

Mayberry Park served Black residents under segregation while neighboring Meadowbrook Park was whites-only; the 60-acre Unity Park joined the two sites along the Reedy River in 2022.

Which Italian city has been Greenville's sister city since 1984?

Bergamo, in Lombardy, became Greenville's first sister city in 1984; Kortrijk in Belgium followed in 1991 and Tianjin's free-trade zone in 2002.

Which Greenville-born civil rights leader was arrested in a 1960 sit-in at the city's whites-only library?

Jesse Jackson, born in Greenville in 1941, was one of the 'Greenville Eight' students arrested for disorderly conduct at the segregated main library on July 16, 1960; the city integrated its libraries that September.

Which NBA great, nicknamed 'the Big Ticket', was born in Greenville in 1976?

Kevin Garnett played three seasons at Mauldin High before finishing at Chicago's Farragut Academy and jumping straight to the NBA as the fifth pick of the 1995 draft.

Greenville-born physicist Charles Townes shared the 1964 Nobel Prize for inventing which device?

Charles Townes built the first maser at Columbia University in 1954 and shared the 1964 Nobel Prize for the maser-laser principle; a 1935 Furman graduate, he later detected ammonia and water molecules in interstellar space.

Which Oscar-winning actress, later Paul Newman's wife, graduated from Greenville High?

Joanne Woodward, born in Thomasville, Georgia, moved to Greenville as a teenager, graduated from Greenville High and acted at the Greenville Little Theatre before winning the Best Actress Oscar for The Three Faces of Eve (1957).

Which singer of the Disney duets 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'A Whole New World' was born in Greenville?

Peabo Bryson, born Robert Peapo Bryson in Greenville in 1951, sang 'Beauty and the Beast' with Celine Dion and 'A Whole New World' with Regina Belle, winning Grammys for both duets.

Sitting on I-85, Greenville is roughly halfway between Charlotte and which other big city?

About 100 miles to Charlotte and 145 to Atlanta, with the state capital Columbia off to the southeast.

Which peak, less than 40 miles northwest of Greenville, is South Carolina's highest point?

Sassafras Mountain, at 3,553 feet, is South Carolina's highest point; it sits in northern Pickens County on the North Carolina line, on the Blue Ridge Escarpment.

With 525,534 people in 2020, how does Greenville County rank among South Carolina counties by population?

Greenville County's 525,534 residents in 2020 made it the most populous county in South Carolina, ahead of Richland and Charleston; its school district is also the state's largest.

Which Amtrak long-distance train stops in Greenville on its way between New York and New Orleans?

The Crescent runs daily between New York and New Orleans by way of Washington, Charlotte, Greenville, Atlanta and Birmingham, a journey of roughly 30 hours.

The 1930s CCC-built state park five miles north of Greenville centers on which swimming lake?

Lake Placid is the swimming lake at Paris Mountain State Park, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s; the mountain's reservoirs had supplied Greenville's drinking water from 1890.

The Greenville Zoo, opened in 1960, sits inside which city green space?

The Greenville Zoo opened in 1960 inside Cleveland Park, the green space along the Reedy River just east of downtown, starting with mostly local animals such as bears, deer and bobcats.

Which daily newspaper, the city's first, was founded in 1874?

The Greenville News began in 1874 as the Greenville Daily News, the city's first daily; it absorbed its afternoon rival, the Greenville Piedmont, in 1995.

What was Greenville's population at the 2020 census?

Greenville counted 70,720 residents in 2020; the city stays small because South Carolina's consent-based annexation law makes absorbing its suburbs hard, while the metro area neared a million people.

In which year was Greenville incorporated?

Greenville was first incorporated as a village in 1831; it later received a city charter in 1869, by which time the old Pleasantburg name had long fallen out of use.

In which year did Greenville adopt the council-manager form of government?

Greenville adopted the council-manager form in 1976, soon after South Carolina's 1975 Home Rule Act; the council is the mayor plus six members, with the mayor and two members elected at-large.

What is the name of Greenville's public bus system?

Greenlink is the brand of the Greenville Transit Authority, whose fixed-route buses run from the downtown transit center to Mauldin, Simpsonville and other parts of Greenville County.

Which spring arts festival runs for three days each year in Greenville?

Artisphere, held each May in the West End since 2005, fills three days with juried artists' booths and performances; Euphoria is September's food-and-wine weekend and Fall for Greenville the October street festival.

Which downtown street did Mayor Max Heller narrow and line with trees in the late 1970s?

Max Heller, the Austrian-born refugee who became mayor in 1971, had Main Street cut from four lanes to two and planted with trees in the late 1970s, seeding downtown's revival.

Which university runs the International Center for Automotive Research campus in Greenville?

Clemson's main campus is 30 miles away, but the Swamp Rabbit Trail was extended from Cleveland Park to reach CU-ICAR.

Which nonprofit began leasing and operating Greenville Memorial Hospital in 2016?

Prisma Health, then operating as the private Greenville Health System, took over Greenville Memorial under a long-term lease in 2016; the public Greenville Health Authority kept ownership of the buildings, and the Prisma name arrived in 2019.