The same year Simpson arrived,
in 1838, the place was assigned a post office
in the house of neighbor, Jarrett Cook entitled
ÔPlain.'
Traffic on the Stage Road was fairly brisk until
the 1850s when the burgeoning village fell into
a virtual standstill throughout the Civil War
and Reconstruction.
Early in the Reconstruction period the black
population, who were leaving their respective
churches of mixed congregations, gravitated to
a more central location for worship and Cedar
Grove Baptist Church became, in 1870, the first
church organized within the present city limits.
In 1885, the Simpsonville High School was established
and North Carolina native, Sidney J. Wilson, had
streets and lots surveyed for the making of a
town that would straddle the grade for the new
railroad track. These streets and lots today remain
laid out in what are largely their original beds.
Although the place had been alternately known
as Plain and Simpsonville for quite some time,
the post office was officially changed to Simpsonville
in 1885.
In 1908 the Woodside brothers constructed the
Woodside Cotton Mill and village that remained
the city's largest employer until after WWII.
In 1953 a major water line from Greenville was
laid and triggered the growth of industry and
residential development for the next twenty-five
years. In the meantime Hwy 276 was widened in
1956 eventually becoming the middle portion of
I-385 and access to Simpsonville's industry and
housing exploded.
By 1994 Simpsonville was the fastest growing
city with population less than 25,000 in the nation.
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