The Towns and the Government
Even to folks with long time ties to
Pacolet, there is some confusion exactly who and where the
local government is. When I was a kid in the 1940’s and
early 1950’s, there were two local towns, Pacolet Station and Pacolet Mills.
Pacolet Station had become an incorporated town in
1896. Pacolet Mills had been started in 1883. The
Mill Company owned land and houses on both sides of the
river and provided all the necessary services. The Mill
Company served the role of municipal government until 1955
when they sold the Company houses.
The town of Pacolet Mills was incorporated in 1955 with
Mr. David Smith as the first mayor.
The confusion about the governments started in the late
1950’s over what some have called “The Great Water Wars”.
It is too complex to cover on this website but it had to
do with who would own and provide water service to the
area. The Town of Pacolet Station had its own small water
system and was interested in getting water from the town
of Spartanburg. The Mill Company had a large water system
to provide service to the town of Pacolet Mills and did
not want the town of Spartanburg involved.
The dispute escalated and there were strong feelings on
both sides. As a result, there were several new towns
formed and incorporated. Pacolet Mills had been
incorporated in 1955. The part of the mill village known
as “Boss Line” was incorporated as the town of Pacolet
Park in July, 1955. The area between Pacolet Station and
Pacolet Mills incorporated as the town of Central Pacolet in
September, 1955.
This resulted in the fact that there were four
incorporated towns touching each other in the short
distance of two miles. The combined population of all four
towns probably did not exceed 3,500 people.
In 1997, the situation became what it is today. The towns
of Pacolet Station and Pacolet Mills merged into the
present town of Pacolet. The town is governed by Mayor
Elaine Harris and the six member town council.
Pacolet Park lost its incorporation in 1976 and no longer
exists as a town. Central Pacolet is still an incorporated
town and is governed by Mayor Vicki Cooke and a four
person town council.
This web site has
been started as a public service to share the story of
Pacolet.