page_title: Greenville, South Carolina
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Greenville, South Carolina / History / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: English: Greenville Main Post Office in Greenville, South Carolina in 2017
context_page_description: Greenville is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. The city's mayor is Knox H. White, who has been in that position since December 1995. With an estimated population of 70,635 as of 2019, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. The population of the surrounding area was 400,492 as of 2010, making it the third-largest urban area in South Carolina as well as the fastest growing. Greenville is the largest city in the Greenville-Anderson-Mauldin Metropolitan Statistical Area. The MSA had a population of 920,477 in 2019, making it the largest in South Carolina and the third largest in the Carolinas.
  Greenville is the largest city in the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson Combined Statistical Area, a 10-county region of northwestern South Carolina known as "The Upstate". According to United States Census Bureau, the CSA had a population of 1,475,235 as of 2019, making it the largest CSA in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway between Atlanta and Charlotte, North Carolina, along Interstate 85, and its metropolitan area also includes Interstates 185 and 385.
context_section_description: During World War I, Greenville served as a training camp center for Army recruits. After World War I commercial activity expanded with new movie theaters and department stores. The Mansion House was demolished and replaced with the Poinsett Hotel in 1925. The Great Depression hurt the economy of Greenville forcing mills to lay off workers. Furman University and the Greenville Women's College also struggled in the crippling economy forcing them to merge in 1933. The Textile Workers Strike of 1934 caused such an uproar in the city and surrounding mill towns that the National Guard had to subdue the chaos. The New Deal established Sirrine Stadium and a new Greenville High School. The Greenville Army Air Base was established in 1942 during World War II contributing to the further growth of Greenville.
  On February 16, 1947, Willie Earle, a black man accused of stabbing a cab driver, was taken from his jail cell by a mob of mostly taxi drivers and murdered. Thirty-one white men were jointly tried for the crime; most of the accused signed confessions, many of them naming Roosevelt Carlos Hurd as the lynch mob leader and the person who ultimately killed Earle with the shotgun. On 21 May 1947, a jury of 12 white men returned verdicts of not guilty for every defendant.
  After World War II Greenville's economy surged with the establishment of new downtown stores and the expansion of the city limits. Furman University doubled its student population and moved to a new location. Higher education facilities such as Bob Jones University in 1947 and Greenville Technical College in 1962 were established in Greenville. The Greenville–Spartanburg International Airport was established in nearby Greer in 1962. The economy of Greenville finally waned in the 1970s leaving a void in downtown Greenville due to the flight of many retailers. Mayor Max Heller then revitalized downtown Greenville with the Greenville County Museum of Art and the Hughes Main Library. Main Street was then converted into a two-lane road lined with trees and sidewalks. With a 1978 federal grant, a convention center and hotel were built, bringing business back to the area.
caption: Greenville Main Post Office
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