Editing Easley, South Carolina (section)

==History==
[[Image:EasleySC1900s.png|thumb|left|upright=1.2|Downtown Easley in early 1900s]]
In 1791, Washington District was established by the state legislature out of the former [[Cherokee]] territory. '''Rockville''' was also created in 1791 but changed to '''Pickensville''' in 1792. Pickensville became the district seat of Washington District which was then composed of Greenville and Pendleton Counties. In 1798, Washington District was divided into Greenville and Pendleton Districts. In 1828, Pendleton District was divided further with the lower portion becoming [[Anderson County, South Carolina|Anderson County]] and the upper becoming [[Pickens County, South Carolina|Pickens County]] named after [[Andrew Pickens (congressman)|Andrew Pickens]].

Col. Robert Elliott Holcombe became a co-founder of the town by starting off as a farmer and [[Sawmill|timber mill]] owner in the area. His farming ventures enabled him to establish the storeroom in 1845 as the first business in the area. The namesake of the town was William King Easley. Easley was born in [[Pickens County, South Carolina]] in 1825. Easley and four others from [[Greenville, South Carolina|Greenville]] represented the Greenville area in the [[South Carolina in the American Civil War|South Carolina Secession Convention]]. When the [[American Civil War]] erupted, Easley raised a company of [[cavalry]] from Greenville and Pickens counties. During the war, Easley served as a major in the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate Army]].<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Easley|url=http://www.cityofeasley.com/#!easley-history/c1c2c|website=cityofeasley.com|publisher=City of Easley}}</ref>

After the civil war, Easley became a local attorney and persuaded the [[Atlanta and Charlotte Air Line Railway]] to be established through Pickensville by raising $100,000 to invest in the railroad. Holcombe was considered to be the first citizen of Easley, building the first dwelling and train depot in the town from his family's lumber mill. Holcombe became the first mayor of the town and was also the first agent of the train depot.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Owens|first1=Brantli|title=Images of America: Easley|date=2008|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|pages=10–11}}</ref> The town of Easley was chartered in 1873. At the time, the consensus was that it should be named Holcombe or Holcombetown, but Col. Holcombe said that he didn't think Holcombe was a very attractive name and that Easley sounded better. The Pickensville Post Office became Easley Post Office in 1875. The railroad transformed Easley into an industrious and thriving textile town. The Easley Textile Company, later known as Swirl Inc., came to Easley in 1953. The construction of [[U.S. Route 123]] helped establish retail and new business in Easley. On April 25, 1951, a department store was on fire threatening many buildings in downtown Easley but the quick response of the fire department extinguished the fire.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of Easley, SC|url=http://www.easleychamber.org/live_and_work/history.aspx|website=easleychamber.org}}</ref>

In 1968, [[NASCAR]] driver [[Curtis Turner]] caused a [[telephone]] outage in Easley while landing his airplane on the town's main street.<ref>
{{Cite news|date=1970-10-06|title=CURTIS M. TURNER, RACING DRIVER, 46 (Published 1970)|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/10/06/archives/curtis-m-turner-racing-driver-46-star-of-the-grand-circuit-dies-in.html|access-date=2020-11-21|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

In 2020, longtime fire chief Butch Womack was elected mayor.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Robertson |first=Jarvis |title=Butch Womack sworn in as new Easley mayor |url=https://www.foxcarolina.com/news/butch-womack-sworn-in-as-new-easley-mayor/article_0de199ee-3684-11ea-ad4d-ab5a66f5db13.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210523051644/https://www.foxcarolina.com/news/butch-womack-sworn-in-as-new-easley-mayor/article_0de199ee-3684-11ea-ad4d-ab5a66f5db13.html |archive-date=2021-05-23 |access-date=2020-11-21 |website=FOX Carolina |language=en}}</ref> However, in 2023, Lisa Talbert challenged his reelection, becoming Easley's first female mayor when she defeated him.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cromer |first=Brookley |last2=Stoddard |first2=Freeman |date=2023-11-14 |title=Talbert declares victory to become first female mayor in Easley history |url=https://www.foxcarolina.com/2023/11/08/easley-mayoral-race-headed-runoff/ |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=FOX Carolina |language=en}}</ref>