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Buford Mabry's Video Transcripts for "A Funeral Surprise" "The Mountain Coon" The First Motorcycle, Part 1 The First Motorcycle, Part 2
Sumter
Sumter County was first settled by Englishmen from Virginia and the South Carolina Lowcountry in the mid-18th century.
Sumter County was first settled by Englishmen from Virginia and the South Carolina Lowcountry in the mid-18th century. In 1800, Sumter District was founded from lands previously belonging to Claremont, Salem, and Clarendon counties. However, over the 19th and 20th centuries, the district became smaller when Clarendon County left the district, and some of the district’s land was used to create Lee County.
The Civil War had a substantial impact on Sumter County. Union troops invaded the county, and a small battle was also fought in the area. Additionally, the area is known as the home of educator Mary Mcleod Bethune and opera singer Clara Louise Kellogg.
Historically, Sumter County served as an important agricultural area. However, the economy shifted away from agriculture over time. Today, the economy relies mainly on the service providing and manufacturing industries. The county and its seat are named in honor of Revolutionary War general Thomas Sumter.
Workforce Breakdown of Economic Sectors. Accessed June 10, 2016. http://www.sumteredge.com/index.php/economic_sectors
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The Marquee for the Rex Theater on Liberty Street in Sumter. Photo around 1930, by Lecoq Studios. Courtesy of the Sumter County Museum Archives.
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Festival Day in Sumter, a fall celebration of the cotton crop, was held in front of the Farmer's Bank and Trust Company building around 1913. The building was originally built as Sumter County's...
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This 1973 painting by Mildred White is titled "Dismantling the Dixie Life Building." Courtesy of the Sumter County Museum Archives.
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This aerial view of downtown Sumter, taken around 1930, shows clearly the City Hall and the skyscraper Dixie Life building, built in 1911. Courtesy of the Sumter County Museum Archives.
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Main Street of Sumter, around 1910. The straggling village, first called Sumterville after the Revolutionary War General Thomas Sumter (see Thomas Sumter), was selected in 1798 to be the courthouse...
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Paratroop transport planes are lined up at Shaw Field, near Sumter, around 1940. Courtesy of the Sumter County Museum Archives.
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The interior of Raffield's Beauty Salon in Sumter was also the home of the Sumter Beauty School around 1940. Photo by Lecoq Studios. Courtesy of the Sumter County Museum Archives.
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The interior of the Coca Cola Bottling Company of Sumter in the 1930s. Photograph from the Lecoq Studios. Courtesy of the Sumter County Museum Archives.
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The Sumter Telephone Company was established in the town of Sumter in 1896 by C.T. Mason, and by 1900 it boasted in its advertising that it was "one of the largest and best equipped factories in the...
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The Winburn Photo Studio, located on South Main Street in Sumter around 1900, illustrates the importance of this form of business in many South Carolina communities. The Studio advertises "Photographs...
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The Cornwallis House, Stateburg. The recessed portico and Palladian influence of the central part of this home mark this as Georgian. The oldest part of this house was built in 1758; the wings added...
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High Hills Baptist Church in Stateburg, in Sumter County, is the second oldest Baptist congregation in the state. Organized in 1770, its first pastor was Richard Furman, one of the founders of the...
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The steeple on the building in the right of this photograph, on Hampton Street in Sumter, is that of the Jewish synagogue, next door to the Rabbi's house. There were Spanish and Portuguese Jews in...
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Health care required the training of medical personnel. A number of hospitals in South Carolina offered programs in nursing training early in the 20th century, mostly in an apprenticeship system of...
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The Palmetto Pigeon Plant in Sumter, photographed November 28, 1932. Courtesy of the Sumter County Museum Archives.
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Squabs were an important commercial poultry product for Midlands farmers. Here a group of African-American women pick feathers from squabs headed for market in Sumter. Photograph by Bill King, for the...
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These Sumter County farmers are using machinery to bale their hay around 1900. Courtesy of the Sumter County Museum Archives.
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Thomas Sumter (1732-1832) was, at his death, the last surviving general of the Revolutionary Army. Born in Charlottesville, Virginia, he fought in the French and Indian Wars as a Virginia militia man...
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Born in Sumterville (now Sumter), Governor Franklin I. Moses (1838-1906) was educated in local schools and later studied law. As a private secretary to Governor Francis Pickens, he became involved in...
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Richard I. Manning III (1859-1931) served as governor from 1915-1919. Born in 1859 at Homesley Plantation in Sumter County, Manning was educated at local schools and at the Kenmore Preparatory School...
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Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955), the daughter of former slaves, was born in Maysville. Believing that the only way to advance in the world was to be able to read, Bethune eventually became a leading...
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Known as "Fighting Dick," Richard Heron Anderson (1821-1879) was the ranking South Carolinian in the Confederate Army, although he had been relieved of his command and was not present when Lee...
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American involvement in the Vietnam War, stretching back to post-World War II support of our French ally in southeast Asia, reached a dramatic peak in 1968. That year, pilots who were trained at...