Page 12 - Clemson Area Chamber Community Guide

Markets take place on Fridays and 1890s, Central citizens were left dazed.
Saturdays leading up to Christmas, and Trains no longer stopped to change
the annual Town of Pendleton Christmas engines and the shops and offices closed.
Parade tours the square. Families that had built their homes and
settled down were uprooted. Houses were
Central vacant and business was at a standstill.
When the Atlanta and Richmond Air- In the early 1900s, Central again
Line Railroad Company (later Atlanta experienced prosperity and an increase in
and Charlotte Air Line Railway, then population due to the opening of a textile
the Southern Railway) arrived in the mill and the establishment of Central
area on September 28, 1873, it cut Wesleyan College, now called Southern
through Pickens County. The railway Wesleyan University (SWU).
extended north from Atlanta and Central grew rapidly during the 1990s
south from Charlotte, meeting in the thanks to an expanded road system, new
middle at a stop that became a town industries, restaurants, library, recreational
appropriately named Central. Central facilities, student apartments, and new
incorporated as a town on March 17, homes. Today Central has approximately
Downtown Central
1875, extending one-half mile in each 5,000 permanent residents and serves
direction from the Air-Line Depot. as a home to students from SWU,
the American Bus Association and a Top and families at the weekly Farmers Market. Engineers, conductors, and telegraph Clemson University, and Tri-County
Twenty Event in the Southeast by the More than 100 scarecrows guard the operators brought their families. Finding Technical College.
Southeast Tourism Society. Attendees town during the Pendleton Fall Harvest the refreshing climate and friendly people Central is a warm and inviting
are encouraged to explore the gift shops, Festival, an annual tradition that includes to their liking, they built homes and shops community that welcomes visitors and
cafes, and antiques stores around the food, fun, entertainment, and local arts and settled down. The railroad’s repair neighbors to join them in its annual
square during this celebrated event. and crafts. Pendleton’s Historic Village shops were located in Central. festivals – Trunk or Train in the fall,
Wednesdays from June-September, Green is also a special place to celebrate With the Southern Railway’s relocation Christmas Parade, and Spring Car
the Village Green is filled with growers the holidays. Two incredible Christmas of its repair shops to Greenville in the late Show. The town is also becoming

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