Greenville County Chapter

Greenville County is a county located in the State of South Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 451,225. making it the most populous county in the state. The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office provides service to 724 of the 794 square miles of Greenville County. There are 408 sworn deputies who are charged with the responsibilities of serving and protecting the 313,000 citizens who live outside the five municipalities within the county. On average, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office responds to over 280,000 calls annually, which results in excess of 30,000 incident reports being generated per year. In 1786, Greenville County was formed. Greenville County was part of the Ninety Six District and was serviced by the Sheriff of that District. In 1791 a new district was formed to include Greenville and Pendleton Counties, this was named the Washington District and it existed until 1799. In 1795 Robert Maxwell, a Revolutionary War hero, was appointed as Sheriff of the District. He lived in Greenville County, and was killed by an ambush on November 10, 1797 while crossing the Saluda River shoals where Piedmont Mill Dam was later built. His grave is located fifteen miles south of Greenville, near Ware Place. During this time many important public officials, including the Sheriff, were elected to their position by the Legislature. The people of South Carolina, however, felt that this important position should answer directly to them for his actions and performance. In 1808, legislation was enacted to provide for the election of the Sheriff by the citizens of the county, rather than by politicians. This method of election was placed into our State Constitution in 1868. The Office of Sheriff in Greenville County began.

The Greenville County Sheriff's Office has transformed from the ancient office created over a thousand years ago in England, to a New World colony, to a frontier county, to a modern, computerized law enforcement agency serving a busy metropolitan county of over 451,000 residents. The Sheriff's Office is composed of over 400 deputies, 9 reserve deputies, 74 crossing guards and 99 civilian employees. These men and women are professional in their training and dedicated in their service. Their purpose is clear; to provide professional law enforcement services to the people of Greenville County. With this commitment and the support of our progressive citizens, the future promises to be just as remarkable as the past. In 1831, the Village of Greenville became the Town of Greenville and established a City Government with a Council made up of an Intendant and four Wardens. The Council appointed a Clerk, a High Constable, a Town Surveyor, a Bell Ringer and a Sexton who would care for the Town Cemetery, later to be named Springwood Cemetery. The Council strongly advocated the planting of trees along down town streets. To protect their trees, they voted to fine those citizens who even tied their horses to the trees while on business in downtown.

Of the many log and weather boarded houses built in the town before 1850, only a few remain and all are listed on the National Register of Historic Places - Photo of Whitehall HouseWhitehall, also referred to as Governor Middleton’s House; the Fountain Fox Beattie House, known as the Greenville Woman’s Club; the Elias Earle Town House and the Josiah Kilgore House (pictured), which is home to the Greenville Garden Club. The 1850s were a time of rapid growth in the little town of Furman UniversityGreenville and its immediate surrounding area. A new Court House was built and believed to have been designed by the well known Engineer/Architect Robert Mills. Both Furman University and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary came to town. Photo of Rail stop in GreenvilleThe first railroad, the Greenville and Columbia Railroad, built its terminal in the West End area. The Greenville Female College was established and grammar schools built. Greenville had a locally owned carriage and wagon manufacturing plant, the largest in the south. Through the generosity of a citizen, Alexander McBee, the City was provided with piped water. Greenville ’s nearby mountains still provide an abundance of pure water and shield the City from severe weather, such as tornados and large amounts of frozen precipitation. Greenville County Schools has been awarded National Accreditation from the AdvancED Accreditation Commission, recognizing the school system as a high quality school district and granting full accreditation to the school district and all of its schools. "Accreditation as conferred by the AdvancED Accreditation Commission provides national and international recognition of the high quality of our schools, school board, and school district," said Superintendent Dr. Phinnize J. Fisher. "To receive district-wide accreditation means that all facets of a school district are working in concert to support student learning and to meet the needs of students. Our efforts to attain district-wide accreditation also demonstrate to our community our ongoing commitment to excellence, our openness to external review and feedback, and our desire to continuously improve to support the achievements of our 69,000-plus students." AdvancED has developed a comprehensive process through which quality school districts can receive national accreditation. The accreditation process recognizes that increasing student achievement involves more than improving instruction. It is the result of how well all parts of the education system - district, school, classroom - work together to meet the needs of students. Accreditation is for a five-year term with regular reporting of progress.