Union, South Carolina

Both the city of Union and Union County received their names from the old Union Church that stood a short distance from the Monarch Mill. When it was first founded, the city of Union was known as Unionville; later the name was shortened to Union. The county's first white settlers came from Virginia in 1749. Union County's population grew the fastest between 1762 and the start of the Revolutionary War. Settlers built log cabins and cultivated tobacco, flax, corn and wheat. Union was one of the first towns settled in the area and was untouched during the Civil War because the Broad River flooded and turned Sherman’s troops away from the town.

The Battle of Blackstock's Historic Site, Cedar Bluff, Central Graded School, Corinth Baptist Church, Culp House, Judge Thomas Dawkins House, East Main Street-Douglass Heights Historic District, Episcopal Church of the Nativity, Fair Forest Hotel, Herndon Terrace, Gov. Thomas B. Jeter House, Meng House, Merridun, Pinckneyville, Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site, South Street-South Church Street Historic District, Union Community Hospital, Union County Jail, Union Downtown Historic District, Union High School-Main Street Grammar School, and Nathaniel Gist House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[6][7]

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 8.0 square miles (21 km²), all of it land.

As of the census of 2000, there were 8,793 people, 3,791 households, and 2,399 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,105.0 people per square mile (426.5/km²). There were 4,240 housing units at an average density of 532.9 per square mile (205.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 56.48% White, 42.12% African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.38% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.05% from other races, and 0.73% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.68% of the population.

There were 3,791 households, out of which 25.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.5% were married couples living together, 21.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.7% were non-families. 33.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.91.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 22.9% under the age of 18, 8.3% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 20.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 79.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 74.3 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $26,110, and the median income for a family was $34,714. Males had a median income of $29,071 versus $19,966 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,175. About 17.6% of families and 20.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.1% of those under age 18 and 15.3% of those age 65 or over.

Union County Schools operates public schools.

For some time, the county had three high schools, Union Comprehensive High, Jonesville High, and Lockhart High. As of a council ruling, the three high schools have been consolidated. Jonesville High School and Lockhart High School were closed, and the students were reassigned to Union High School, which has been renamed Union County High School.[10]

The Union High School Yellow Jackets Football team has seen great success in recent past. They won the 4A State Football Championship in 1990 and 1995, and won the 3A State Title in 1999, 2000, and 2002. They were also state runners-up in 2001. The Yellow Jackets were led to their three most recent championships by former head coach and current State Representative Mike Anthony. He retired following the 2004 season. He was succeeded by Tommy Bobo, former Union offensive coordinator, who left following the 1999 season to become the head football coach at Wren High School. Bobo led the Jackets to the region championship and the state semi-finals in 2005. Bobo resigned in 2007 after the school board decided to consolidate the three high schools. He accepted a position as an assistant at Spartanburg's Dorman High School. Jonesville High School coach David Lipsey was hired to replace Bobo and be the first coach of Union County High School.

The county is also home to a Satellite campus of the University of South Carolina. USC Union was opened in 1965. It was once home to the USCU Bantams, a junior college basketball team, which had success at that level before the team was ended in the 1980s.

Union has a public library, the Union County Library system.[11] This Carnegie library was named Best Small Library in America by Library Journal for 2009.[12]

• Darrell Austin, former NFL player for New York Jets and Tampa Bay Bucs
• States Rights Gist, Confederate brigadier general during Civil War
• Willie Jeffries, legendary College Football Hall of Fame coach for South Carolina State University, Wichita State University, and Howard University
• Bob Jeter, NFL player for Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears
• Henry "Rufe" Johnson, a Piedmont blues guitarist, pianist, singer and songwriter; born near, worked and died in Union[13][14]
• Mona Lisa, R&B singer
• Cotton Owens, NASCAR driver
• John Jonathon Pratt, journalist and newspaper editor
• Clifford Ray, former professional basketball player for Golden State Warriors and Chicago Bulls
• Don Rhymer, former film writer and producer
• Susan Smith, murderer who drowned her two sons[15]
• Jim Youngblood, former NFL linebacker for Los Angeles Rams #53

• Charles, Alan (1997). The Narrative History of Union County, South Carolina. Greenville, SC: A Press Print. Co. ISBN 0-87152-421-X.
• Sims, Caldwell (1933). Voices from the Past.

Wikisource has the text of a 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article about Union, South Carolina.

• City of Union