Laurens County, South Carolina

Laurens County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Laurens
Year Organized: 1785
Square Miles: 713

Court House:

P.O. Box 445
County Courthouse
Laurens, SC 29360-0445

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Laurens is named for president of the Continental Congress Henry Laurens.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Laurens County and its county seat were named for Revolutionary War leader Henry Laurens (1724-1792). The county was established in 1785 as a part of Ninety Six District. This part of the state was settled primarily by Scotch-Irish and English immigrants in the mid 1700s, and during the American Revolution quite a few of its residents remained loyal to Great Britain. Several Revolutionary War battles were fought in the county, including the Battle of Musgrove's Mill (August 18, 1780). President Andrew Johnson (1808-1875), a native of North Carolina, worked as a tailor in the town of Laurens for a brief time in the 1820s. Laurens County was also home to Ann Pamela Cunningham (1816-1875), the leader of the movement to preserve Mount Vernon, and educator Wil Lou Gray (1883-1984).

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 724 square miles (1,875 km²), of which, 715 square miles (1,852 km²) of it is land and 9 square miles (23 km²) of it (1.23%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Spartanburg County, South Carolina - north
Union County, South Carolina - northeast
Newberry County, South Carolina - southeast
Greenwood County, South Carolina - south
Abbeville County, South Carolina - southwest
Anderson County, South Carolina - west
Greenville County, South Carolina - northwest

Cities and Towns:

- Clinton	city	Incorporated Area
- Cross Hill	town	Incorporated Area
- Gray Court	town	Incorporated Area
- Laurens (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- Waterloo	town	Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

Penn Foster High School

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