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.