Editing York County, South Carolina (section)

===19th century===
====Early 19th century through Civil War====
With the introduction of the [[cotton gin]] in the 1790s, the county's economic prospects increased as the importance of [[cotton|"King Cotton"]] grew, and slavery became an integral part of the economy. In 1800, 25% of all white families in the Upcountry enslaved people, but by 1820, nearly 40% were enslavers. Slavery expanded significantly in York County between 1800 and 1860, with most enslaved on small and medium-sized farms rather than more extensive 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 that enslavement in York County had decreased, with approximately 70% of all farms enslaving fewer than ten people and less than 3% of the farms with 50 or more.

The proportion of York District farms in 1860 was:
* Less than {{convert|50|acre|km2}}: 20%
* 51 to 100&nbsp;acres (0.2 to {{convert|0.4|km²|sqmi|0|abbr=on}}): 23.9%
* 101 to 500&nbsp;acres (0.4 to {{convert|2|km²|sqmi|0|abbr=on}}): 53.9%
* More than {{convert|500|acre|km2}}: 2.7%

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

In 1825, only three post offices operated in 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 1823 (it ran for little more than a year), and several other attempts followed until ''The Yorkville Enquirer'' was first published in 1855 (and which remains in publication today).

Chartered in 1848, the Kings Mountain Railroad Company began construction of a connecting line between Yorkville and the [[Charlotte and South Carolina Railroad|Charlotte and South Carolina Railway]] at Chester (completed in 1852). [[Rock Hill, South Carolina|Rock Hill]], located along the Charlotte and South Carolina route, rapidly developed as a transportation center in eastern York County, boasting 100 residents in 1860.

At the American Civil War outbreak, more than a dozen academies were operating in the county. The Kings Mountain Military Academy in Yorkville was the most famous, founded in 1854 by Micah Jenkins and Asbury Coward.

On the eve of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], York District was one of the more populated districts in Upstate South Carolina.<ref name=willoughby>{{cite book | last=Willoughby| first=Lynn| title=The "Good Town" Does Well: Rock Hill, S.C., 1852–2002| year=2002| publisher=Written in Stone| location=Orangeburg, SC| isbn=0966970721}}, p. 35</ref> There were 14 [[infantry]] companies formed in York County after South Carolina declared secession. Of the 4,379 soldiers enlisted from York County, 805 died, and many more were wounded.<ref>Willoughby, Lynn; p. 35</ref> Only one minor battle was fought in the York District, the battle for the Catawba Bridge at Nations Ford in 1865.

====Late 19th century====
Between 1868 and 1871, York County became a hotbed of [[Ku Klux Klan]] attacks on African Americans.<ref name="Pearl">{{cite news|date=March 4, 2016|title=K Troop: The story of the eradication of the original Ku Klux Klan|first1=Matthew|last1= Pearl |work=Slate|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2016/03/how_a_detachment_of_u_s_army_soldiers_smoked_out_the_original_ku_klux_klan.html}}</ref> The Klan had an estimated 2,000 members in the county in 1871. Among their activities was the lynching of [[Jim Williams (militia leader)|Jim Williams]] on March 6, 1871, led by Dr. [[J. Rufus Bratton]].<ref name="Pearl"/> K Troop of the [[7th Cavalry Regiment]] was charged with suppressing them.<ref name="Pearl"/> To escape the violence, in November 1871, a large group of local blacks, led by Rev. [[Elias Hill]], a disabled anti-Klan activist beaten by Klansmen, emigrated to Liberia.<ref name="Witt2009">Witt, John Fabian. Patriots and Cosmopolitans: Hidden Histories of American Law. Harvard University Press, June 30, 2009, p85-86, 128–149</ref> York is believed by some to be the setting for [[Thomas F. Dixon, Jr.]]'s novel ''[[The Clansman: A Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan]]'', later made into the motion picture "[[The Birth of a Nation]]", and Bratton is said to have been the inspiration for one of its characters.<ref>{{cite news|title=South Carolina's First Klan: York had 'Kyklos' in 1868|first1=Pat|last1=Robertson|first2=Ellen|last2=Johnsey|date=October 31, 1965|work=[[The State (newspaper)|The State]]|url=https://dspace.ychistory.org/bitstream/handle/11030/69292/00001049.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century|publisher=Oxford University Press|date=2009 |first1= Paul| last1=Finkelman |isbn=978-0195167795|page=420}}</ref>

During the [[Reconstruction era]], many of York County's more prominent property owners were forced to sell portions of their land to smaller farmers. The average farm size in York County dropped considerably while the number of small farming operations increased. Late-19th-century agriculture in York County was characterized by relatively small farm operations, ignorance of soil qualities, and the benefits of [[polyculture|diversification]], eventually leading to the agricultural difficulties of the 1890s, 1920s, and 1930s.

Railroad development continued in York County after the war's end. In 1880, the Rock Hill Cotton Factory, the first [[steam-power]]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 [[Anderson Motor Company]], the first automobile manufacturing facility in the South. Concurrently, Rock Hill's population increased from 809 to over 5,500 from 1880 to 1895.