Симпсонвилль отмечает 125-летие: от железнодорожного городка до современного центра с сохранением духа малого города

SIMPSONVILLE — On the second floor of Simpsonville’s City Hall, a piece of the USS Arizona sits on display in a glass box. It’s to remember Simpsonville native Broadus West, one of the many servicemen who perished on that ship in defense of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. His cenotaph stands tall in the city’s Municipal Cemetery. These, according to Mayor Paul Shewmaker, are testaments to the city’s local, profound sense of patriotism. From a railroad-connected mill town to a thriving retail center on a growing business corridor extending from Greenville, Simpsonville’s identity has undergone a transformation since its official incorporation in 1901. As the city marks its 125th anniversary Aug. 13, locals reflect on its evolution and what the future holds for the community that bills itself as “simply home.” Simpsonville was named after Peter Simpson, a farmer who established a blacksmithing shop in the area in 1838. For much of its past, the town was a stagecoach stop. The South Carolina Encyclopedia says that before being renamed in his honor in 1886, the town — by its post office — went by Plain. As a smaller community in Greenville’s suburban orbit, Simpsonville has been traditionally known as close-knit. “We’re a city of churches and scout troops and volunteer leaders and the Rotary Club and Kiwanis,” Shewmaker said. Serge Guillot, who has spent 16 years running the Ice Cream Station, a popular stop among residents, echoed that sentiment, describing the city as “a sweet place people call home.” The Ice Cream Station was once a railroad depot built in 1960, according to the state tourist guide Discover SC, and it’s not the only symbolic landmark. Standing at the center of downtown is the city’s brick clock tower, marked with the year 1987, according to the Historical Marker Database. Another symbol of the city, tucked behind the fields of the nearby Heritage Park, is the CCNB Amphitheater, a venue with a capacity of roughly 15,000 people that has attracted prominent entertainment names. Charles Austin Griswold, a roughly 30-year resident of Simpsonville and the assistant manager of the restaurant Shortfields, spoke of the amphitheater’s draw. “They put on a bunch of shows from big-name people that would never come here if we didn’t have this development,” he said. Like much of the Upstate, Simpsonville has experienced massive growth in the past several decades. One particular growth spurt was from 1970 to 1990, according to Discover SC, during which the city’s population exploded by 254 percent. “We’re not the quiet, dusty place that it was 125 years ago,” Shewmaker said. Simpsonville has long served as a bedroom community, but the mayor said he has seen more people spending time in downtown Simpsonville during his term, especially at night. “What has changed in the last 10 years is just the vitality of our downtown,” he said. One recent explanation for this growth is the area’s relatively low taxes and housing prices. The mayor noted that while housing is expensive almost everywhere, it’s cheaper than in many places in the country’s Northeast and West. The population changes are deeply connected with the business and industry landscape. Simpsonville spent much of its history as a cotton processor, according to the SC Encyclopedia. This era rose from the 1880s with the Greenville and Laurens Railroad’s construction, before petering out after World War II. Simpsonville Area Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Allison McGarity acknowledged this transformation, noting that since then, the business environment has mostly become hospitality-focused. This appears in some of the converted facilities in town. Shewmaker mentioned that the old cotton mill, once the heart of the city’s cotton industry, is now residential. In 1953, Greenville Water Works extended its system to Simpsonville, Mauldin, and Fountain Inn. This development is credited with eventually anchoring the growth and retail transformation of this “Golden Strip” corridor. Tom Hohman, a 26-year resident and owner and chef at The Lunchbox, said Simpsonville has “a little bit of the best of all worlds in the sense that we have a quaint little downtown along the railroad tracks here.” ‘Looking for an identity’ The development is becoming part of the city’s character, a shift that former Greenville County Councilmember Butch Kirven said leaves the city “looking for an identity.” Kirven has called Simpsonville home since 1969, and he tells of a period in which “truly everybody seemed to know everybody. Everything was smaller.” As Simpsonville grows, questions about what the city should be have emerged, and Wade Shealy, owner of Unterhausen The Castle Cellar Pub in the heart of downtown, has watched the transition over the course of more than half a century. “I think they have attempted for many years to try to maintain a small town atmosphere,” he said. “That seems to be more and more difficult nowadays with the population growth.” Shealy, whose establishment pays homage to his family’s German heritage, has lived in Simpsonville since 1967. “And growthwise, in all communities, there’s a limit to how much growth an area can maintain,” he said. Shewmaker cited traffic as the biggest development-related problem. “It is the number one concern of people who live in the city of Simpsonville,” he said. “It’s that this continued, high-paced growth is overwhelming our ability to provide the infrastructure that needs to be there for that growth, and it’s a struggle.” One struggle the mayor referenced was coordinating with Greenville County and other localities to produce a plan that lasts because future councils can reverse them. “There’s not a good way for governments to work together that has any sticking power, because … the law says no council action can bind a future council, and that’s a good law,” he said. Whether to widen roads is another source of tension as it must balance making driving through downtown easier while sacrificing walkability. “Widening roads to improve traffic is like loosening your belt to lose weight,” Shewmaker said. “It just draws more traffic, and it’s counterintuitive, but that’s my concern.” The mayor is not the only one echoing infrastructure-related concerns. “I’m just worried about us getting too big for our britches too quick,” said Hohman of The Lunchbox. Change is coming It’s not entirely clear how Simpsonville’s small-town vibe might change in the future, but the city will still look for ways to adapt and grow. One possible project involves expanding Simpsonville’s segment of the Swamp Rabbit Trail, which runs next to Southeast Main Street, connecting it to Heritage Park and a portion of the trail in Fountain Inn. “We just have one mile, and it’s hugely popular, but once we get that in place, the part that’s looked impossible is how we connect up to the rest of the trail system at Mauldin and all the way up through Travelers Rest,” he said. “But if we have this big piece of it, and they have that, that piece in the middle, instead of looking impossible, starts to look inevitable.” Hohman, an enthusiastic cyclist, said he hopes the trail expansion will bring a more diverse crowd to The Lunchbox. If anything, the pace of development is set to continue. “We’ve done new daycare centers, an ice cream truck that will be offering high-end ice cream for parties and events,” the chamber’s McGarity said. “We’re still getting lots of new interest and just hearing from new businesses that are coming in.” Besides these projects and trends, however, Shewmaker said that he doesn’t expect Simpsonville to change much in the long run. To many, the city’s small-town feel has stood the test of time. Many also expect that small-town feel to stick around, and to some, it has already stood the test of time. “The downtown area is about like it was in the number of buildings when I moved here over 50 years ago,” Shealy said. He’s not alone. At Crown and Bloom Coffee Co., co-owners Brantley Bell and Corey Simpson encourage growth. “I know there’s people in South Carolina that are from here that say ‘oh, enough people have moved here … stop now,’ but we don’t really have that opinion, especially as business owners,” Bell said. “I think it’s more of a compliment that people from all across the country want to move to Greenville, South Carolina, of all places, and Simpsonville, too.”