Gaffney in Cherokee County, South Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)

Towne Center

Photographed By Brian Scott, July 6, 2011

1. Towne Center Monument
Right Plaque

Inscription. Towne Center This side indicates the center point for the second survey by the Town of Gaffney to expand its city limits to include all property within a one-mile radius of this location. The survey was conducted by R.O. Sams, February 27, 1890 (map date).

This expansion included the already-established downtown area, the west end which was in the initial phase of being populated, and Limestone College and the surrounding area.

In Memory of
My Great Grandparents
James Alexander Carroll
and
Mary Humphries Carroll

My Parents
Charles Samuel Copeland, Jr.
and
Ethel Castleberry Copeland

Donated by:
Charles Alexander Copeland, Sr.
December 2002

Erected 2002 by Charles Alexander Copeland, Sr.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Settlements & Settlers. A significant historical date for this entry is February 27, 1890.

Location. 35° 4.084′ N, 81° 38.95′ W. Marker is in Gaffney, South Carolina, in Cherokee County. Marker is at the intersection of College Drive and South Johnson Street, on the left when traveling south on College Drive. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Gaffney SC 29340, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 10 other markers are

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within walking distance of this marker. Dunton Chapel Methodist Church (approx. ¼ mile away); Gaffney Cornerstone (approx. 0.3 miles away); Cherokee County Confederate Monument (approx. 0.3 miles away); First Baptist Church (approx. 0.3 miles away); Gaffney (approx. 0.4 miles away); Col. James Williams (approx. 0.4 miles away); Carnegie Library (approx. 0.4 miles away); Cherokee County WW I Rememberence (approx. 0.4 miles away); Cherokee County Veterans Monument (approx. 0.4 miles away); a different marker also named Gaffney (approx. 0.4 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Gaffney.

Also see . . .
1. Gaffney, South Carolina. Gaffney is a city in and the county seat of Cherokee County, South Carolina, United States,[3] in the upstate region of South Carolina. Gaffney is also sometimes referred to as the Peach capital of South Carolina. (Submitted on July 9, 2011, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina.)

2. James Alexander Carroll, Sr. Funeral Notice. Funeral services for J.A. Carroll, 75, prominent Gaffney man, were conducted at his residence on Johnson street this afternoon. (Submitted on July 10, 2011, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina.)

Additional commentary.
1. James Alexander Carroll
The history

Towne Center Monument<br>Left Plaque image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Brian Scott, July 6, 2011

2. Towne Center Monument
Left Plaque

of several important towns in South Carolina is largely a repetition - of one name woven through all the expanding life and enterprise of the community. This is notably true of Gaffney, today one of the hubs of industry and commerce in upper South Carolina. The name most frequently repeated here during a half century of growth and development is that of James Alexander Carroll, who has been well described as a composite personality of merchant, manufacturer, banker, broker, jobber, farmer, builder and booster, and through it all has ran an eminent public spirit which might well make him deserving of the appellation philanthropist.

He was born May 19, 1852, in York County. His parents were Thomas and Lucinda (Hullender) Carroll. His father was a Confederate soldier and lost his life in the siege of Petersburg. The paternal ancestry is one branch of the distinguished Carroll family of Maryland and Virginia The famous Charles Carroll, of the "Carrolls of Carrollton" signer of the Declaration of Independence, has probably had no more worthy descendant than the Gaffney business man.

James A. Carroll spent his youth in a period of lamentable ruin and destruction in the South, and he came to manhood with his character strengthened by the shock of circumstance and many vicissitudes. He had a farm training, attended local schools only until he was sixteen, and spent much

Towne Center Monument image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Brian Scott, July 6, 2011

3. Towne Center Monument

of his youth with a noted citizen of Whittaker's Mountain, the late Ira Hardin. On leaving home he worked for a while on the building of the first railroad, the old Richmond & Danville, now the Southern, and during his later teens clerked in a number of country stores for Mr. Hardin.

In 1869 at the age of seventeen he first came to Gaffney, then known "fitly as Gaffney's Old Field, and clerked in the town's first store owned by I. Hardin. He had little capital, but had showed himself worthy of trust, and not long afterwards he established a little store of his own at Gowdeysville near Gaffney. He conducted that four years. and in 1877 returned to Gaffney, and now for over forty years has been the city's most prominent business factor. Until 1881 he conducted a business under his individual proprietorship, and then took into partnership the employe whom he held in highest regard, W.C. Carpenter.

The firm of Carroll & Carpenter continued for nearly a quarter of a century. In 1900 George C. Byers bought an interest, and the organization was Carroll, Carpenter & Byers until February, 1904, when Mr. Carpenter withdrew. Since then the business has been Carroll & Byers, established in a completely fitted and modern building of its own known as the Carroll & Moore Block.

The firm of Carroll & Byers is now a complete merchandise organization, carrying over $1oo,ogo

Photographed By Brian Scott, July 6, 2011

4. Towne Center Monument

of stock, the main store being devoted to general dry goods and men's and women's clothing, with also a wholesale and jobbing department. The firm has at another location a grocery store, established since 1905. The firm are extensive dealers in fertilizers and through the Carroll Cotton Company buy most of the cotton produced in that territory. The members of the firm are also interested in farming and real estate.

Mr. Carroll established the cotton buying firm of Carroll & Stacy in 1881, and for many years it was the largest plant of its kind in the state employing about 100 men and in some seasons buying over $1,000,000 worth of cotton. Mr. Carroll was one of the original stock holders of the Cherokee Falls Cotton Mill, and served as its president twelve years, from 1888 to 1900. He made the first subscription, $10,000, to the Gaffney Manufacturing Company in 1892 for the purpose of building the first cotton mill in Gaffney. He has been president of the Limestone Mill since its organization, and has been a director from the start in the Gaffney Manufacturing Company, the Hamrick, Globe, Cherokee Falls and Broad River mills, and is a director of the Victor Cotton Oil Company. For twenty years he conducted the great lime works in Gaffney, producing about 100,000 barrels of lime annually.

Mr. Carroll appeared in the role of a banker when in 1891 becoming associated

Robert Oswald Sams<br>In Citadel Academy Uniform image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Brian Scott

5. Robert Oswald Sams
In Citadel Academy Uniform

Surveyor of area.

with F.G. Stacy he established Carroll & Stacy. Bankers. In 1806 this bank took out a national charter becoming the National Bank of Gaffney, and later became the First National Bank.

These varied activities of themselves obviously constitute a great public service in the community. Mr. Carroll has been generous of his time and means in helping out many worthy causes. He has been particularly interested in supplying educational facilities for young men and women, partly from a consciousness of a lack of these facilities during his own youth. Several years ago he made a donation of $15,000 to Limestone College, and in April, 1019, there was announced an additional gift from him of $25,000 to this institution.

Mr. Carroll married in 1871 Miss Mary Humphries. Their two daughters are Mrs. G.G. Byers and Mrs. Doctor A.C. Cree. (Source: History of South Carolina, Volume 5 edited by Yates Snowden (1920), pgs 82-83.)

— Submitted July 10, 2011, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina.

2. Charles Alexander Copeland, Sr. Obituary
Gaffney Ledger
February 11, 2004

Charles A. Copeland
Decorated combat veteran of World War II
Charles Alexander Copeland, 80, died Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004, at his residence.

Born in

James Alexander Carroll<br>1852–1929 image. Click for full size.

History of South Carolina, Volume 5 edited by Yates Snowden

6. James Alexander Carroll
1852–1929

Gaffney, S.C., on Oct. 10, 1923, he was the widower of Sara Robbs Cope-land and son of the late Charles Samuel Copeland Jr. and Ethel Castleberry Copeland.

A graduate of Gaffney High School, he also attended Clemson University for three years. He was a retired retailer, farmer and land developer, a charter member of the Gaffney Country Club, served as President of the Cherokee Historical and Preservation Society, as well as past president of the Civil Defense Committee, Cherokee County Hospital Board, Macedonia Water Works and Thicketty Creek Water Shed.

Mr. Copeland was a combat veteran of World War II. He joined the U.S. Army in 1943 and began his duties at Camp Wheeler, Ga. From there he went to England and on to France. At Utah Beach he marched 13 miles inland to join the 83rd Infantry Division as a heavy machine gunner. On July 25, 1944, he was wounded by a hand grenade at the breakout of Normandy. After recuperation, he fought at Hurricane Forest, the second biggest battle of the European campaign. He was wounded and sent to the Belgium Hospital and spent Christmas there. From there, he entered Neuse, Germany at the Elba River on Easter Sunday night, April 1, 1945. He opened fire on 13 Germans and the German Lieutenant surrendered. For this he received the Bronze Star. He returned home on November 17, 1945 and received the European Theater Pin with five

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battle stars, two purple hearts, and a combat infantry badge.

Mr. Copeland ran Copeland Company until 1951. He was in the registered cattle business for four years with Joe McArthur and started his farm in 1955. In 1971 he was South Carolina Farm Family of the Year, with Julie Nixon Eisenhower visiting in 1972.

Mr. Copeland and his late wife were members of the Buford Street United Meth-dist Church.

He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Sara Carroll and Richard Tweed of Boiling Springs, S.C.; his sons and daughters-in-law, Charles Mitchell and Angela Copeland and Charles Alex Copeland Jr. and Rita Copeland of Gaffney. He is also survived by seven grandchildren, Sallie and Sara Hambright, Charles and Anna Copeland and Silas, Julia and Alex Copeland.

The family will receive friends from 6 til 8 p.m. Thursday at Shuford-Hatcher Funeral Home. Services will be held at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, 2004, in Buford Street United Methodist Church, conducted by Rev. Scott Wachter and Dr. M.B. Morrow. Interment will follow in Oakland Cemetery in Gaffney.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Cherokee Historical and Preservation Society, 301 South Johnston Street, Gaffney, S.C. 29340; or to Interim Hospice, 775 Spartan Boulevard, Spartanburg, S.C. 29301.

The family is at the home of son Mitch Copeland, 1012 Old Post Road, Gaffney.

Shuford-Hatcher Funeral Home is in charge.

— Submitted July 10, 2011, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina.

Credits. This page was last revised on November 14, 2020. It was originally submitted on July 9, 2011, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina. This page has been viewed 817 times since then and 23 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on July 9, 2011, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina. 5, 6. submitted on July 10, 2011, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina.