York County, South Carolina

York County is a located in the  of. According to the 2005 estimate of the, the county's population stands at 190,097. Its is.

Geography and Climate
York County is located in north central, along the border. Its natural boundaries are the on the west and the  on the east. All of York County is within the region. Although heavily wooded in many rural areas and retaining a predominantly rural character in its western half, York County is considered part of the and includes, the county’s largest city, as well as the smaller towns of  and , and increasing residential  along.

According to the, the county has a total area of 1,802 (696 ). 1,768 km² (682 sq mi) of it is land and 34 km² (13 sq mi) of it (1.91%) is water.

Adjacent Counties

 * - north
 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - south
 * - southwest
 * - west
 * - northwest

Climate
York County has a, characterized by hot, humid summers and cool winters. Precipitation does not vary greatly between seasons. July is the hottest month, with an average high temperature of 90°F and an average low temperature of 70°F. The coldest month of the year is January, when the average high temperature is only 52°F (11°C) and the average low temperature bottoms out at 32°F (0°C). The warmest temperature ever recorded in Rock Hill, the county's largest city, city is 106°F (42°C), on, , and the coldest temperature ever recorded in Rock Hill is -4°F (-20°C), on ,.

History
Pre-Colonial and Colonial History

passed through the area in the in his search for, and several decades later  recorded his observation of a predominant  tribe, later confirmed to be the , in the vicinity of present-day , east of the. With a population of nearly 6,000 at the time of first an contact, the Catawba were primarily agriculturalists and gave much support to their new neighbors.

The of South Carolina was founded in, and was divided into three counties 12 years later. Craven County, which roughly encompassed the northern half of South Carolina, included the southern half present-day York County, while the top portion of present-day York County was considered part of.

Before the boundary between the two Carolinas was fixed in, the northern portion of the York County was part of , and in it was included in the newly created ; the first land grants and deeds for the region were issued in Anson County. In 1762, was formed from western Anson County and included present-day northern York County. Five years later, the area became part of, which comprised all of west of the Catawba River and south of. The area would remain a part of Tryon County until, when the boundary between North and South Carolina was finally established.

The first European settlers in the Carolina piedmont, or traditionally called the, were s. Rising rent and land prices in  drove them southward down the , and they began arriving in the greater region west of the Catawba River during the  and settled in present-day York County in the.

The New Acquisition

After its transfer to South Carolina in 1772, the much of the area was known as . In, York County was one of the original counties in the newly created , and its boundaries remained unchanged until , when a small portion of the northwestern corner was ceded to the newly-formed.

By, the Carolina Upcountry had an estimated population of more than 250,000, predominantly Scots-Irish Presbyterians, with significant numbers of English, Welsh, native Irish, native Scots, Swiss, French and Germans. The Scots-Irish settled in a dispersed community pattern denoted by communal, clannish, family-related groups known as "clachans", much the same as in Pennsylvania and. The clachans developed around the Presbyterian Kirks, or meetinghouses, and became the forerunners of the congregations. In York County, the "Four B" churches, all Presbyterian—- Bethel, Bethesda, Beersheba and Bullock Creek—- are the county’s oldest.

Sandwiched between unfriendly natives to the west,, and  Native American tribes, and indifference on the part of English officials in , who considered residents of the Backcountry uncivilized, the early settlers frequently found themselves the targets of Native American raids, and the local  became an early police force, patrolling the area for possible Native American or  troubles and controlling the seemingly numerous outlaw bands which roamed the region. Militia units, or "Beat Companies", enrolled every able-bodied man on the frontier.

Revolutionary War

Residents of the Upcountry were initially slow to take sides in the, content to remain neutral as long as left unmolested; the conflict was initially viewed as one between the and Charleston s. The New Acquisition entered into vocal opposition to Royal authority in  only after three "invasions" of the region: the first by  and his , and two more by. Most of the state had capitulated to the British after their apture of Charleston, but after the in nearby Lancaster County in May, residents of the New Acquisition took part in a regional resistance, led by men such as William "Billy" Hill, William Bratton and Samuel Watson. Both the battles of and, a direct response to the Waxhaw Massacre, were fought in the New Acquisition, and Lord Cornwallis was forced northward, and ultimately to surrender at , after facing defeat in the Carolina Upcountry.

Early York County

After playing a significant role in the defeat of the British, Upcountry residents enjoyed a greater share of administration in their region and experienced phenomenal growth after the war. In first, in , York County had a population of 6,604; 923 were listed as slaves, and a quarter of the county’s slaves belonged to just nine men. Less than 15% of its population lived in bondage in 1790, while the state averaged 30%.

Establishment of the County Seat

A county seat was laid out in at Fergus's Cross Roads, where several roads converged near the  of the county. The new town was first known as the village of York, or more commonly York Court House. In, the town was incorporated and officially became. In its population, as recorded by, was 441 and included 292 whites and 149 blacks. By 1840 the population had reached 600, and in 1850 Yorkville consisted of 93 dwellings and 617 inhabitants. In the years just prior to the, the town gained a reputation as a summer for many  s trying to escape the l s of the Lowcountry for the moderate climate to be found in the Upstate. By, the population of the town had topped 1,300, an increase of more than 125% in only one decade. During the Civil War, the town also became a focal point for residents from the Lowcountry as a refugee destination during Federal of their towns.

Antebellum York County and the Civil War

With the introduction of the in the, the county's economic prospects increased as the importance of  grew, and slavery become an integral part of the economy. In 1800, 25% of all white families in the Upcountry owned slaves, but by 1820 nearly 40% were slaveholders. Slave ownership increased significantly in York County between 1800 and 1860, though most slaves worked on small and medium sized farms rather than large plantations. In 1800, whites made up 82.10% of the total population in York County, but by 1860 the white percentage of the total population had dropped to 62.50%. Figures from 1860 reveal slave holdings in York County were relatively small, with approximately 70% of all farms holding fewer than 10 slaves and less than 3% of the farms with 50 or more.

The proportion of York District farms in 1860 was:
 * less than 50 acres (0.2 km²): 20 %
 * 51 to 100 acres (0.2 to 0.4 sqkm): 23.9 %
 * 101 to 500 acres (0.4 to 2 sqkm): 53.9 %
 * more than 500 acres (2 km²): 2.7 %

In 1810 the York District had increased in population to more than 10,000, of which over 3,000 were slaves. By 1850, York District included 15,000 residents, over 40% of whom were slaves. On the eve of the Civil War, the county's population had grown to approximately 21,500, with almost 1/2 of the population enslaved labor. York County was heavily tied to agriculture, with 93% of the work force involved in raising crops in 1850, while the rest of the United States averaged a 78% agricultural work force.

In only three post offices operated in all of York County, at Yorkville, Blairsville and Hopewell, but by 1852 York District had 27. The county's first newspaper, The Yorkville Pioneer, was established in, and ran for little more than a year, and was followed by several others until The Yorkville Enquirer, which remains in publication today, was begun in.

Chartered in, the Kings Mountain Railroad Company began construction of a connecting line between Yorkville and the Charlotte and South Carolina Railway at Chester completed in. , located on the Charlotte and South Carolina, rapidly developed as a transportation center in eastern York County, from a crossroads with 100 residents in.

More than a dozen academies were operating in the county at the outbreak of the Civil War. The most famous was the Kings Mountain Military Academy in Yorkville, founded in by Micah Jenkins and Asbury Coward.

On the eve of the, York District was one of the more populated districts in Upstate South Carolina. The 1860 white male population of York County was just over 5,500. 14 companies formed in York County after war was declared, and during the war the York District would have the highest death rate of any county in South Carolina. Only one minor battle was fought in the York District, the battle for the Catawba Bridge at Nation’s Ford in.

Postbellum York County and early industrialization

During many of York County's larger property owners were forced to sell off portions of their land to smaller farmers: The size of the average farm in York County dropped considerably while the number of small farming operations increased. Late- agriculture in York County was characterized by relatively small farm operations and an ignorance of soil qualities and the benefits of, which eventually led to the agricultural difficulties of the and  and.

Railroad development continued in York County after the war’s end, and in the Rock Hill Cotton Factory, the first ed cotton factory in South Carolina, ushered in a new era of agricultural expansion and industrial development. The Rock Hill Buggy Company, founded by John Gary Anderson, eventually grew to become the highly successful, the first automobile manufacturing facility in the South. Concurrently, Rock Hill’s population increased from 809 to over 5,500 from 1880 to 1895.

20th century

Cotton production remained the dominant agriculture in early York County, and the  continued to develop. Rock Hill became the hub of this industry, while mills blossomed throughout the county. South Carolina's peak cotton crop was harvested in and thereafter, cotton production began a long and steady decline, due in part to the  and. The programs of the  prodded farmers into switching to crops, and cotton gradually became less and less important to the economy.

In the Catawba Dam and Power Plant was completed. The Catawba Power Company had been founded in by William C. Whitner, Dr. Gill Wylie and his brother Robert Wylie. Construction began in and when finally completed, the  and  were one of the most important engineering accomplishments in the. The venture eventually led to the formation of Duke Power Company, and a later series of dams and hydroelectric facilities were built on the Catawba in both North and South Carolina. The Catawba Power Plant sparked the of the Catawba Valley; by  more than a million textile  were powered by it.

By the late 20th century, York County faced increasing developmental pressure from Charlotte and the decline of small-scale farming; however, much of York County remains rural in character.

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 164,614 people, 61,051 households, and 44,933 families residing in the county. The was 93/km² (241/sq mi). There were 66,061 housing units at an average density of 37/km² (97/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 77.25%, 19.16% or , 0.85% , 0.89% , 0.02% , 0.93% from , and 0.91% from two or more races. 1.96% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 61,051 households out of which 35.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.10% were living together, 13.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.40% were non-families. 21.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the county, the population was spread out with 26.30% under the age of 18, 9.50% from 18 to 24, 31.10% from 25 to 44, 22.80% from 45 to 64, and 10.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 94.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.20 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $44,539, and the median income for a family was $51,815. Males had a median income of $36,713 versus $24,857 for females. The for the county was $20,536. About 7.30% of families and 10.00% of the population were below the, including 12.10% of those under age 18 and 9.60% of those age 65 or over.

Education
York County has four public school districts. District One serves central and western York County, including the town of York; District Two serves northern York County and the town of Clover; District Three serves the City of Rock Hill and southern York County; District Four serves eastern York County and the town of Fort Mill.

York County is the home of York Technical College, Clinton Junior College, and , all located in Rock Hill.