Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Batesburg-Leesville, South Carolina
Town
Nicknames:  B-L, The Twin Cities
Location of Batesburg-Leesville within South Carolina.
Country	United States
State	South Carolina
Counties	Lexington, Saluda
Area
• Total	8.29 sq mi (21.48 km2)
• Land	8.20 sq mi (21.23 km2)
• Water	0.10 sq mi (0.26 km2)
Elevation	643 ft (196 m)
Population  (2010)
• Total	5,362
• Estimate  (2019)	5,415
• Density	660.77/sq mi (255.11/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP codes	29006, 29070
Area codes	803, 839
FIPS code	45-04300
GNIS feature ID	1692657

Batesburg-Leesville is a town in Lexington and Saluda counties, South Carolina, United States. The town's population was 5,362 as of the 2010 census and an estimated 5,415 in 2019.

History

The town of Batesburg-Leesville was formed in 1992 by the consolidation of the towns of Batesburg and Leesville. The last mayor of Batesburg and the first mayor of Batesburg-Leesville was Elza S. "Sandy" Spradley, Jr.

The D. D. D. Barr House, Batesburg Commercial Historic District, Simon Bouknight House, Cartledge House, Cedar Grove Lutheran Church, Church Street Historic District, Broadus Edwards House, Hampton Hendrix Office, Hartley House, Henry Franklin Hendrix House, Thomas Galbraith Herbert House, J.B. Holman House, A.C. Jones House, Leesville College Historic District, Crowell Mitchell House, McKendree Mitchell House, Mitchell-Shealy House, Old Batesburg Grade School, John Jacob Rawl House, Rawl-Couch House, Southern Railway Depot, and Rev. Frank Yarborough House are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In February 1946, a black American soldier, Isaac Woodard, was attacked by the local police chief, Linwood Shull. The assault left Woodard blind. Shull was never punished. The attack was the subject of an Orson Welles radio commentary a few months later.

Geography

Batesburg-Leesville is located at 33°54′35″N 81°32′03″W / 33.909767°N 81.534296°W / 33.909767; -81.534296 (33.909767, -81.534296).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 7.4 square miles (19.2 km²), of which 7.3 square miles (19.0 km²) is land and 0.1 square mile (0.2 km²) (1.21%) is covered by water.

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 United States census, there were 5,270 people, 2,046 households, and 1,458 families residing in the town.

Economy

Historic Leesville Business District - Main Street

Historic Batesburg Business District - Oak Street

Top employers

The top employer in Batesburg-Leesville is Lexington County School District Three with four different schools and a district office. The next is Ansaldo STS, which has a 184,000 sq ft (17,100 m²) manufacturing facility.

Poultry industry

The town's economic dependence on poultry harvesting is apparent due to the presence of two large processing plants: Amick Farms and Columbia Farms. These assist in making Lexington County the top poultry producer in the state.

Poultry festival

The South Carolina Poultry Festival (formerly the Ridge Poultry Festival) has been held on the second Saturday in May since 1987. The festival features live music, food vendors, craft vendors, a carnival, a parade, and to conclude the event a cake auction and fireworks show.

Education

Public schools

The public school system in Batesburg-Leesville is administered by Lexington County School District Three, which consists of:

• Batesburg-Leesville Primary School [1] (grades K-2)
• Batesburg-Leesville Elementary School (grades 3-5)
• Batesburg-Leesville Middle School (grades 6-8)
• Batesburg-Leesville High School (grades 9-12)

All sports teams associated with School District Three use a panther as their mascot. The Panthers' colors are purple, gold, and blue.

Historic public schools

The Batesburg-Leesville Primary School opened in 1984. At that time the district began operating just four schools, as they consolidated smaller, older schools into the new school. Historical schools which closed in 1984 included Hampton Elementary School (1954), Utopia Elementary School (1953), Leesville Elementary School and Batesburg Primary School.

The Batesburg-Leesville Elementary School opened 1996 and replaced the Old Batesburg Grade School [2] which had served the fourth and fifth grades and now serves as the Lexington School District Three Administrative Office. The new school allowed third grade to be shifted from the B-L Primary School to the new Elementary School give the current school breakdown by grade.

The Batesburg-Leesville Middle School opened in 1999. This led to the closing of the old middle school campus which had originally been built as Batesburg-Leesville High School in 1921 with numerous additions through the years.

The Batesburg-Leesville High School opened in 1975. The new school was built on the former Summerland College campus on Summerland Avenue. The construction of a new school had been spurred by integration and student population increases. With integration a former building of Summerland College was used as a middle school in the early 1970s but a fire heavily damaged the building and eventually sped up the construction of the new high school. The first class to graduate in Panther Stadium was the class of 1976.

Prior to racial integration statewide, the local African-American students attended Twin-City High School and Hampton School. Twin-City High School was located on Maple Street in Batesburg where the Twin-City High School Park is now located. The park is owned by the Twin-City Alumni Association. The original two-story wooden Hampton School (1922) was replaced in 1954 by a single story brick structure on South Lee Street in Leesville. The original wooden building was subsequently torn down, but a marker remains under a large tree in the parking lot of Friendship Baptist Church on South Lee Street. Other "colored" schools included Leesville Colored Primary School and Batesburg-Saluda Colored School.

There were other older schools which had closed previously to include Delmar School which was located a few miles outside of town. View the Delmar School historical marker at [3]. More photographs of these old school buildings may be seen at SC School Insurance Photos 1935-50.

Private schools

W. Wyman King Academy and the Ridge Christian School are private, nondenominational Christian schools accepting students in grades K-12.

Colleges and universities

In 2008, Midlands Technical College opened a new Batesburg-Leesville satellite campus in the Leesville Historic District. The campus is within the boundaries of the Leesville College Park at the intersection of Main Street and College Street.

Historic colleges

Leesville College Park and old classroom building, summer 2018

• Leesville College, 1890-1911, originally called the Leesville English and Classical Institute (1881-1890). The Haynes Auditorium (built 1883) in the Leesville College Historic District at the intersection of Main Street and College Street was the original classroom building. Two neighboring houses were the college President's House and Dormitory. The two homes were a single building during the college days and known as Salisto Hall (a modifier combining the name of two neighboring rivers, Saluda and Edisto). The school was said to have been the first in the state to include practical and technical training in its curriculum, to have a girls' basketball team, to teach tennis and to teach higher mathematics to females. A.B. degrees were granted after four years of Latin, two years of French or German, mathematics, natural science, history, English, philosophy, and Greek. A Master's Degree was offered for a year of post-graduate work. There were departments of music, arts, commercial law, bookkeeping, typing, and one devoted to the Pitman system of shorthand.
• Summerland College, 1912-30. Originally known as Summerland Resort, this property was converted to an all-female college of the Lutheran Church in 1912. It was located on the site of the current Batesburg-Leesville High School. It was closed after the 1930 school year and then consolidated with the all-male Newberry College.

Library

Batesburg-Leesville has a public library, a branch of the Lexington County Library.

Notable people

Notable figures who were born in, lived in, or are otherwise associated with Batesburg-Leesville include:

Athletes

• Shaq Roland, South Carolina University a wide receiver for South Carolina Gamecocks
• Dontrelle Inman, a professional football player for the San Diego Chargers, Chicago Bears and Toronto Argonauts
• Ed McDaniel, a former professional football player for Minnesota Vikings from 1992 to 2001
• Zackary Bowman, a professional football player for the Chicago Bears, New York Giants, Miami Dolphins from 2008 to 2015.
• Maurice Simpkins, a professional football player for the Green Bay Packers in 2010
• Dal Shealy, college football player and coach

Musicians

• Linda Martell (born Thelma Bynem in Leesville), was an American rhythm and blues and country music singer.

Governmental and Military

• Katrina F. Shealy, has been a South Carolina State Senator since 2013
• Ryan C. Shealy, a Democratic state legislator in Columbia
• George Bell Timmerman Jr., served as Governor of South Carolina from 1955 to 1959

Images for kids

• 

  Hartley House (1830), located on U.S. Highway 1 across from the old Batesburg Graded School

• 

  Batesburg's Southern Railway Depot (1900) now located in the Wilson Street Park

• 

  Leesville United Methodist Church (1909) on U.S. Highway 1

• 

  Former Batesburg Graded School (1912) on U.S. Highway 1

• 

  Barr-Price Funeral Home (1909) - Part of the Leesville College Historic District

See also

In Spanish: Batesburg-Leesville para niños