GREENVILLE

county, northwestern South Carolina, U.S. The northern section, which is bordered by North Carolina, lies in the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Appalachian chain, while most of the county lies in the foothill regions of the Piedmont. The Saluda River is the western boundary, and Greenville county is also drained by the Reedy River. Jones Gap and Caesars Head state parks are Blue Ridge recreation sites. Paris Mountain, a monadnock (isolated mountain) apart from the Blue Ridge, is also the site of a state park. The Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway traverses the northern part of the county. Formerly Cherokee Indian territory, the area was acquired by settlers in a 1777 treaty and was organized as a county in 1786. It probably was named for Isaac Green, an early settler of the area. The city of Greenville, the county seat, is home to Furman University (founded 1826). During the American Civil War the county was a stronghold of the Union cause. Most of Greenville county is urban, and it is the most populous county in the state. The economy is dominated by the city of Greenville, where textiles, chemicals, tires, and electronics equipment are manufactured; agriculture (milk, cattle, and peaches) is also important. After Greenville, Greer, Mauldin, and Simpsonville are the largest cities. Area 792 square miles (2,052 square km). Pop. (1990) 320,167; (1998 est.) 353,845. city, seat (1827) of Washington county, west-central Mississippi, U.S. It is a port on the Mississippi-Yazoo River plain, 115 miles (185 km) northwest of Jackson. Old Greenville, named for the American Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene, was sited just to the south; part of this original settlement caved into the Mississippi River, and the remainder was burned by Union troops during the American Civil War. The present city was established on the Blantonia Plantation during the Reconstruction period. After the disastrous 1927 flood, higher levees were built. Lake Ferguson, a still-water harbour at the foot of Main Street, was created in the early 1930s when an S-shaped curve in the Mississippi River was straightened. The city retains an agriculture-based economy, although industry (notably the manufacture of textiles, wood, paper and concrete products, screws, and saws) has developed. Just south of the city, a bridge spans the Mississippi to Lake Village, Ark. The Winterville (Indian) Mounds Historic Site is 3 miles (5 km) north. Inc. town, 1870; city, 1886. Pop. (1991 est.) 45,556. city, seat of Pitt county, on the Tar River in eastern North Carolina, U.S. It was incorporated in 1774 as Martinsborough (2.5 miles east), which was reestablished in 1786 and named for General Nathanael Greene, an American Revolutionary War hero. The Greenville and Raleigh Plank Road (chartered in 1850 as part of a tollway from Washington in Beaufort county) and the arrival (in 1889 and 1907) of the Seaboard Coast Line and the Norfolk and Southern railroads stimulated its development. Greenville is the site of East Carolina University (1907) and Pitt Community College (1961). Manufacturing (notably pharmaceuticals) and educational and distributive factors now vie with agriculture, chiefly tobacco, as economic assets. Pop. (1990) 44,972. city, seat (1846) of Hunt county, northeastern Texas, U.S., on the Sabine River, 52 miles (84 km) northeast of Dallas. Established in 1846 on the Republic of Texas' "National Road," an ox-wagon trail from Jefferson to Austin, and named for General Thomas J. Green (who fought in the Texas Revolution), its development as a cotton-ginning and shipping point began in the 1880s, when eight railroads converged on the area. The location of a plant there by Chance Vought Aircraft Co. (later LTV Aerospace) in 1951 hastened the transformation from a farming to an industrial economy. Lake Tawakoni, 16 miles (26 km) south, provides recreation and fishing facilities. East Texas State University (1889) is in nearby Commerce. Inc. 1874. Pop. (1991 est.) 23,563. city, seat (1809) of Darke county, western Ohio, U.S., on Greenville Creek, 35 miles (56 km) northwest of Dayton. Laid out in 1808, it was the site of Fort Greenville, named for General Nathanael Greene and built by General "Mad" Anthony Wayne (1793). After his victory at Fallen Timbers (near the present site of Toledo), Wayne signed a peace treaty at the fort with Indians (1795) that opened the Northwest Territory to settlers. The fort was burned (1796), but the site is marked by the Fort Greenville Treaty Memorial. The Garst Museum houses relics of the Indian wars and personal belongings of Annie Oakley (1860-1926), the female sharpshooter of Wild West shows, who was born on a nearby farm. Greenville's economy is basically agricultural, augmented by light manufactures (notably gas and oil filters, glass products, and kitchen appliances). Inc. city, 1902. Pop. (1991 est.) 12,971. city, seat (1797) of Greenville county, northwestern South Carolina, U.S., on the Reedy River, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. First called Pleasantburg when the area was settled in the 1760s, it was renamed Greenville in 1821, probably for Isaac Green, an early settler, and was chartered as a village in 1831. Before 1860 it was a summer resort community. As the western terminus of the Greenville and Columbia Railroad, the city served as the commercial centre for the Piedmont (rolling upland region) and for entry into the nearby Appalachian Mountains. Greenville strongly opposed nullification (in U.S. history, a doctrine holding that a state, within its territorial jurisdiction, has the right to declare null and void any federal law that violates its voluntary compact embodied in the Constitution) in 1832 and secession from the Union in 1860. Notable among the Unionists was Benjamin F. Perry, Greenville editor and later state governor. After the American Civil War, waterpower of the Reedy River was used to develop manufacturing. Textile mills dominate, although there also are plants manufacturing chemicals, paper, plastic film, machinery, tires, electronics, and aircraft. Agriculture is important, farm income depending mainly on dairy products, cattle, and peaches. Greenville is the home of Furman University, founded in 1826 as a Baptist theological school at Edgefield and moved to Greenville in 1850, Bob Jones University (1927), a Fundamentalist Bible college that moved to Greenville in 1947, and Greenville Technical College (1962). Greenville has a symphony orchestra, little-theatre organizations, and a county art museum. The Bob Jones University Museum and Gallery houses a large collection of religious art. Textile Hall was the site of the biennial Southern Textile Exposition (1917-64); the building subsequently was replaced, and it is now called the Palmetto International Exposition Center. A Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children is in Greenville. Inc. city, 1868; reincorporated, 1907. Pop. (1990) city, 58,256; Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson MSA, 830,539; (1998 est.) city, 56,436; (1996 est.) Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson MSA, 896,679.