A Short History of Greenville

Beginning when Greenville was Cherokee hunting grounds, then following its growth from frontier settlement to village to summer resort, A Short History of Greenville tells the story of the coming of the railroad and Furman University to the antebellum community. After the Civil War and Reconstruction, Greenville became a New South textile town. Author Judith T. Bainbridge details the boom and bust of the 1920's and 1930's as well as the early reactions against Jim Crow segregation. Greenville Army Airbase, later Donaldson Center, returned prosperity to the white community in the 1940's and19 50's. The struggle for integration and the beginning of downtown improvements started in the sixties and continued into the next decade. Revitalization, multi-national business, and increasing tourism mark the past half-century. A Short History of Greenville traces Greenville's political and social changes from Unionism to Secession and from agriculture to textiles to tourism.