Ellenton, South Carolina
Encyclopedia
Barnwell County, South Carolina
-History:The Barnwell District was created in 1798 from the southwestern portion of the Orangeburg District, along the Savannah River...
and Aiken County
Aiken County, South Carolina
Aiken County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. In 2000, its population was 142,552; in 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that its population had reached 160,099...
, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Settled around 1870, it was acquired by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission in 1950 as part of a site for the Savannah River Plant
Savannah River Site
The Savannah River Site is a nuclear reservation in the United States in the state of South Carolina, located on land in Aiken, Allendale and Barnwell Counties adjacent to the Savannah River, southeast of Augusta, Georgia. The site was built during the 1950s to refine nuclear materials for...
. It was located between the current CSX railroad and the current SC Highway 125, Upper Three Runs Creek, and Four Mile Branch. SC Highway 125 was U.S. Highway 278 in the 1950s.
Early history
The settlement began with the construction of the Port Royal and Augusta Railroad, which was later renamed the Charleston and Western Carolina Railway and is now part of CSX TransportationCSX Transportation
CSX Transportation operates a Class I railroad in the United States known as the CSX Railroad. It is the main subsidiary of the CSX Corporation. The company is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, and owns approximately 21,000 route miles...
. It ran through the plantation of Robert Jefferson Dunbar. Part of his land was for the railroad right-of-way, the train station, and town.
Oral tradition tells us that the superintendent of the railroad construction and president of the railroad, Stephen Caldwell Millet, boarded with the Dunbar family. He was so struck with the attractiveness of Ellen Dunbar, the nine year old daughter of the Dunbars, that he asked his company to name the station "Ellen's Town." In a note to the O'Berry book, the Savannah River Archeological Research Program indicates that Mary Ellen Dunbar was twenty-two years old in 1870.
During the election of 1876
South Carolina gubernatorial election, 1876
The 1876 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1876 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. The election campaign was a referendum on the Radical Republican-led state government and their Reconstruction policies...
at the end of Reconstruction, a conflict, known as the Ellenton Riots, occurred.
The town of Ellenton was incorporated in 1880. Nearly all its life, it was an agricultural, trading, and sawmill town. It declined through the downturn of cotton prices after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and the Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
of the 1930s. By the early 1950s, Ellenton had a population of about 760, about 190 residences, about 30 commercial buildings, five churches, two schools including Ellenton High School, one cotton gin, a city hall and jail, and the railroad station.
Ellenton had the first automatic telephone dialing system in South Carolina. After the bank failures in the Great Depression
Great Depression in the United States
The Great Depression began with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and personal advancement...
, Ellenton had the first cash depository in South Carolina.
Exodus
On November 28, 1950, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission and the E. I. du Pont de Nemours CompanyDuPont
E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company , commonly referred to as DuPont, is an American chemical company that was founded in July 1802 as a gunpowder mill by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont. DuPont was the world's third largest chemical company based on market capitalization and ninth based on revenue in 2009...
announced that the Savannah River Plant
Savannah River Site
The Savannah River Site is a nuclear reservation in the United States in the state of South Carolina, located on land in Aiken, Allendale and Barnwell Counties adjacent to the Savannah River, southeast of Augusta, Georgia. The site was built during the 1950s to refine nuclear materials for...
would be built on about 300 sq. mi. of Aiken County
Aiken County, South Carolina
Aiken County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. In 2000, its population was 142,552; in 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that its population had reached 160,099...
, Barnwell County
Barnwell County, South Carolina
-History:The Barnwell District was created in 1798 from the southwestern portion of the Orangeburg District, along the Savannah River...
, and Allendale County
Allendale County, South Carolina
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 11,211 people, 3,915 households and 2,615 families residing in the county. The population density was 28 people per square mile . There were 4,568 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile...
in South Carolina. The Savannah River Plant was built for the production of plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
and tritium
Tritium
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The nucleus of tritium contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of protium contains one proton and no neutrons...
for the H-bomb.
About 6,000 people and 6,000 graves were to be relocated. This include the incorporated communities of Ellenton and Dunbarton
Dunbarton, South Carolina
Dunbarton was a town in Barnwell County, South Carolina, United States. The area was originally settled around 1800. Dunbarton grew after a train stop was built on a new rail line. In 1951, it was acquired by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission as part of a site for the Savannah River Plant...
and the unincorporated communities of Hawthorne, Meyers Mill, Robbins, and Leigh. A significant fraction of those removed were African-American farmers and sharecroppers.
The government purchased or condemned the property. Many of the residents moved themselves, and in some cases, their homes to the new town of New Ellenton, South Carolina
New Ellenton, South Carolina
New Ellenton is a city in Aiken County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 2,250 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Augusta, Georgia metropolitan area.-History:...
on U.S. Highway 278, which was eight miles north, and nearby Jackson
Jackson, South Carolina
Jackson is a town in Aiken County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 1,625 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Augusta, Georgia metropolitan area.-Geography:Jackson is located at ....
, Beech Island
Beech Island, South Carolina
Beech Island is an unincorporated community of Aiken County, South Carolina, United States. It appears to take its name from Beech Island, a nearby former island that is politically part of Georgia but geographically separated from the rest of Georgia by a river which changed its bed...
, Aiken
Aiken, South Carolina
Aiken is a city in and the county seat of Aiken County, South Carolina, United States. With Augusta, Georgia, it is one of the two largest cities of the Central Savannah River Area. It is part of the Augusta-Richmond County Metropolitan Statistical Area. Aiken is home to the University of South...
, North Augusta
North Augusta, South Carolina
North Augusta is a city in Aiken County, South Carolina, United States, on the north bank of the Savannah River. The population was 21,348 at the 2010 census. The city is included in the Central Savannah River Area and is also part of the Augusta, Georgia metropolitan area.- History :North...
, and Augusta, Georgia
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
. Some moved out of state. Eventually, nearly all that was left behind was the streets, curbs, driveways, and walkways.
Geography
Aiken County, South Carolina
Aiken County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. In 2000, its population was 142,552; in 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that its population had reached 160,099...
- Barnwell County
Barnwell County, South Carolina
-History:The Barnwell District was created in 1798 from the southwestern portion of the Orangeburg District, along the Savannah River...
line.
Legacy
New Ellenton, South CarolinaNew Ellenton, South Carolina
New Ellenton is a city in Aiken County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 2,250 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Augusta, Georgia metropolitan area.-History:...
, is the direct descendant of Ellenton. An annual reunion of former Ellenton residents started in 1973 and continues today.
The musical "I Don't Live There Anymore: The Ellenton Story" premiered in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1992 and was part of Piccolo Spoleto held during the Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the world's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy...
in Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, in 1993. Ellenton and its fate was an inspiration for the town of Colleton in the Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Pat Conroy
Pat Conroy , is a New York Times bestselling author who has written several acclaimed novels and memoirs. Two of his novels, The Prince of Tides and The Great Santini, were made into Oscar-nominated films.-Early life:...
.
External links
- I Don't Live There Anymore website - has history and pictures
- Displaced-The Unexpected Fallout from the Cold War website - pictures and footage from Ellenton
- Savannah River Archeological Project website - web gallery has pictures and information on Ellenton
- Early history of the Savannah River Plant
- Savannah River Site at 50 - site selection for the Savannah River Plant from Savannah River Site at 50