Thursday, April 2, 2009

My Hometown

I took my friend Angie's advice and finally took a photo walk downtown. I live in Anderson, South Carolina. Like many other cities and towns, we are trying to rejuvenate our downtown area. This is a statue that stands in front of the courthouse on the downtown square. This is William Whitner. He was an engineer who produced a way for electricity to be conducted through wires to the many textile mills in the area. Anderson was the first city in the United States to have a continuous supply of electric power and the first in the world to create a cotton gin operated by electricity. Thus we are called "The Electric City". That is a pretty amazing legacy for a small town.

4 comments:

REG said...

Thank you for the interesting history along with the photos.

~*~DawnSC~*~ said...

I love local history! Those posts are always my favs.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Whitner looks dapper! I like the way you framed the sign to also show the Anderson County sign behind it on the building.

smiles,
Angie S.
EverydayEclecticism

Lessie said...

Great photo of "our" statute. :) Glad you had a good walk.