page_title: Anderson, South Carolina
section_title: The Electric City
hierarchical_section_title: Anderson, South Carolina / History / The Electric City
caption_attribution_description: English: Portman Shoals Power Plant, Seneca River
context_page_description: Anderson is a city in and the county seat of Anderson County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 26,686 at the 2010 census, and the city was the center of an urbanized area of 75,702. It is one of the principal cities in the Greenville-Anderson--Mauldin Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a population of 824,112 at the 2010 census. It is further included in the larger Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson, South Carolina Combined Statistical Area, with a total population of 1,266,995, at the 2010 census. Anderson is just off Interstate 85 and is 120 miles from Atlanta and 140 miles from Charlotte.
  Anderson is the smallest of the three primary cities that makes up the Upstate region and is nicknamed "The Electric City" and "The Friendliest City in South Carolina". Anderson County was named an "All-America City" in 2000.
  Anderson is the home of Anderson University, a selective private comprehensive university of approximately 3,400 undergraduate and graduate students.
context_section_description: Anderson became one of the first cities in the Southeastern United States to have electricity. Electricity to Anderson was established by William C. Whitner in 1895 at a hydroelectric plant on the Rocky River giving the city the name "The Electric City." Anderson also became the first city in the world to supply a cotton gin by electricity. In 1895 Anderson Court House was renamed to Anderson. In 1897 Whitner's plant was upgraded with a 10,000 volt generating station at Portman Shoals. Whitner's power plant at Portman Shoals became the first hydroelectric plant in the United States to generate high voltage without step-up transformers . The Portman Dam was swept away in 1901 forcing Anderson to be in darkness until it was rebuilt in 1902.
caption: Portman Shoals Power Plant around 1920.
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