What was Greenville like 100 years ago?
Furman University history professor Courtney Tollison Hartness explores this earlier period in her new book, “Our Country First, Then Greenville,” revealing how Greenville evolved into a modern city from 1880 to 1930. The number of city residents nearly tripled between 1900 and 1930.
The book delves into a number of topics, including race relations, population growth, the women’s suffrage movement and the contributions of African Americans and women to Greenville’s history.
“I kept uncovering such fascinating people that many Greenvillians are completely unaware of, and so I wanted to write a story that incorporated their efforts into the narrative,” Hartness said.
People like Mary P. Gridley, a civic leader and businesswoman who, according to Hartness, “had her hands in nearly every progressive cause in Greenville.” The first woman mill president in South Carolina — assuming the role after her father’s death — Gridley was also a suffragette who helped establish Greenville’s first public library.
“I kept uncovering such fascinating people that many Greenvillians are completely unaware of, and so I wanted to write a story that incorporated their efforts into the narrative.” — Courtney Tollison Hartness
Or Hattie Logan Duckett, who Hartness said was instrumental in ensuring that African American women weren’t taken advantage of during World War I and who later founded the Phillis Wheatley Center.
“Our Country First, Then Greenville” offers the first published history of the women’s suffrage movement in Greenville, with photos and source material scoured from archival collections around the country, including UCLA, Duke University and the New York Public Library.
“Some of the photographs included in the book have never been published in any Greenville publication before,” Hartness said.
The book also reveals how Greenville’s experience during WWI served to generate massive development in the city and the region, setting the stage for the continued growth that persists today. For example, city officials aggressively recruited an army training camp — Camp Sevier — to Greenville, which served as a huge economic boon. They took out ads in newspapers all around the country promoting Greenville as a wonderful place to live and work, coining the city “Progressive Greenville.” The name later evolved to the Textile Center of the South before eventually becoming the Textile Center of the World.
“Greenville leaders were very good at self-promotion — they were marketing geniuses,” Hartness said.
She said she intentionally wrote the book in a way that would appeal to everyone, not just academics.
“Our Country First, Then Greenville,” can be found at local bookstores or wherever books are sold. It is also available online at uscpress.com.
