The North Anderson Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. Portions of the content on this web page were adapted from a copy of the original nomination document. [‡]
The North Anderson Historic District is distinguished for its park-like atmosphere. The curvilinear streets are between 70 and 80 feet wide, and are lined with mature trees and island parks, which provide recreation areas for both the residents of North Anderson and the city of Anderson. The residential lots are large, with the majority sloping gently toward the island parks, which are situated throughout the neighborhood. The district is bounded on the south by Mauldin Drive, to the north by Boundary Street and to the west by Edgewood Drive. Most of the properties are located on Anderson Avenue, Blair Street, Central Avenue, Club Drive, Forest Avenue, Holly Street, Laurel Avenue, North Avenue, Park Drive, Watson Avenue, and Westview Avenue.
The district features early twentieth century Revival styles including Tudor, Colonial, and Neoclassical. Craftsman Bungalows and Minimal Traditional homes are also well represented. A few individual properties reflect an eclectic blend of more than one style.
The North Anderson Historic District is distinguishable as an intact collection of early twentieth century Revivals and American Movements. Some styles are epitomized by particularly fine individual examples; others are represented by a group of properties that collectively exhibit the characteristics of the styles.
The North Anderson Historic District is also significant for its history associated with the themes of Community Planning and Development. The district represents the transformation of Anderson's rural landscape into a planned urban residential development. From 1913 to circa 1950, the period of significance, the area evolved from small, family-owned farms and recreational forests, to the first ring of suburban development in the city. The period of significance marks the decades during which the district took its shape, and the development patterns established closely paralleled the early twentieth century transportation innovations. These innovations, especially the electric streetcar, enabled a rising class of textile industrial managers and other white-collar professions to live in the outer reaches of Anderson, that were made accessible by this mode of transportation. The district also reflects the demand for housing in this rapidly growing city, created by the shift from a rural regional economy to an industrial one. During this period, Anderson underwent tremendous industrial growth with six textile manufacturing complexes located within or near the municipal boundaries of the city (Watkins 1992).
Anderson, the political seat of the county bearing the same name, was founded in 1826 and incorporated in 1833. The city's municipal boundaries were laid out in a radius of one mile in each direction from the courthouse (Badders 1983). From the early 1800s until the turn of the twentieth century, the economy of Anderson was based on providing goods and services to a hinterland that consisted mainly of general farming and cotton farming families. It also served as a collection and distribution point for cotton. In 1853, Anderson became a major stop on the Greenville and Columbia Railroad, bringing increased jobs and people to the area. The city's property values increased fourfold over the next decade (Edgar 1998).
Anderson's location at the southwestern end of a great textile-manufacturing belt, stretching from Danville, Virginia, to Gainesville, Georgia, combined with improved modes of transportation, encouraged the tremendous growth of manufacturing in the area (Steep 1945). Anderson was particularly attractive to industry because it had one of the first practical hydroelectric power plants in the nation. In 1890, "engineer William Whitner designed a municipal electrical system. The next year he convinced the city to buy an experimental 5,000-volt AC generator for a dam at High Shoals on the Seneca River. When this generator came on line in 1895, it was the largest one in the world" (Mack 2005). Soon after, Anderson became known as "The Electric City" (Badders 1983). By 1890, the city's population was just over 1,000 (U.S. Census of Population). Anderson Cotton Mill began operations during that year, bringing industry to the immediate Anderson area. The decades that followed emerged as one of the most prosperous periods in Anderson's history, with numerous textile mills located in or adjacent to the city. These factories included the Orr, Riverside, Brogan, and Gluck mills. Other industries, such as cottonseed oil mills and mattress factories, also opened in or near Anderson.
Progress continued to be made in other areas as well, especially the city's infrastructure. When an electric trolley system was introduced in 1904, Anderson became one of the smallest towns in the United States to have this mode of transportation (Ethridge 2003). Owned and operated by Anderson Traction Company, the original lines stretched from the courthouse to Riverside Mill, Orr Mill and to Gluck Mill. In 1913, Southern Power, a Duke Company bought Anderson Water, Light and Power Company. The city of Anderson also upgraded its sewer system, installed a white-way lighting system downtown, and carried out a street paving program that included all the public streets within its mile radius limits (Otter 2006). During the first two decades of the twentieth century, the population of Anderson increased 400 percent, to 10,000 people (U.S. Census of Population 1920). This population "boom" was directly related to the expansion of textile mills and the resulting downtown businesses, which in turn, triggered an increased need for residential housing in the city (Watkins 1995).
John Linley and North Anderson
In 1900 John W. Linley (1881-1957), a recent graduate of The Citadel, the military college of South Carolina in Charleston, returned to his hometown of Anderson in order to teach in the public schools. Linley proved to be a successful teacher and school administrator. In 1905 he was the principal of the Fant Street School (Woody 2003). Later he decided to switch to a more lucrative career. In 1907 he went into partnership with Frank Farmers and began Linley and Farmers Insurance Company. Soon after, Linley saw the need for residential expansion in the city and, in January 1913 began promoting the development property he owned that was located in an area immediately outside the city limits. Linley had previously grown cotton on this property and hired local labor to harvest the crop; however depressed cotton prices convinced him to shift the land use from agriculture to residential. He called the new subdivision "North Anderson" because it was located north (and west) of Anderson's central business district. Linley convinced prominent local citizens to invest in the North Anderson Development Company to develop the property.
In March 1913, 200 lots were plotted. The subdivision called for all modern conveniences, including a sewer line, (which was completed in 1915), electricity, a trolley system (see: Streetcar Suburbs, 1888 to 1928), and a 37-acre park adjacent to Whitner Creek. Linley was a tireless promoter of this new neighborhood; he built his own home in the center of the nearly uninhabited subdivision and took out twice-weekly advertisements in the city's newspaper, the Anderson Independent-Mail, with the slogans "A home of your own, is a home indeed", and "A home at a very low cost, yet as high class as can be found", and "Join the log cabin club! We have a regular department store when it comes to lots. Lots from $300 to $3,000" (Anderson Independent-Mail January-February, 1913).
Perhaps Linley's biggest advertising efforts began when he inaugurated the North Anderson Street Railway Company. Chartered in October 1913 by John Linley and C. G. Boleman, the nearly two miles of track ran from North Main Street to Westview Avenue, located on the northern edge of the subdivision. The car barn for the electric trolleys was located behind Linley's home. The electric cars were pulled by an overhead trolley wire using direct electric current so the cars could be reserved for the return trip. Linley, realizing that potential customers were concerned with the distance to the city, outlined the value of building a house in North Anderson. The ads claimed: "You save $1,000 to $1250 on the price of your lot by buying in North Anderson (instead of town). The interest alone on $1,000 to $1250 will pay for 1,600 to 2,000 car fares (trolley rides) per year. You save $50 to $75 city taxes by making your home in North Anderson" (Anderson Independent-Mail October, 1913). Directly across from his house, in a center section of Whitner Park, he constructed a large log cabin that housed both a waiting room for trolley passengers and the North Anderson Development Company's real estate office. The streetcar ran on a thirty-minute schedule from the courthouse (Watkins 1992).
For over a decade, North Anderson was the most desired place to build a home. Linley was committed to building a subdivision where homes would last a lifetime, and residents would embrace them as their lifelong homes. Restrictive covenants, which were designed to maintain the residential nature of the area and provide a funding mechanism for maintenance of the park and streets, were implemented and strictly enforced. Typical of the Jim Crow era, African-Americans were not allowed to purchase homes in this all white neighborhood (Anderson County South Carolina Register of Deeds, 1913-1949).
Approximately 70 percent of the houses in the North Anderson Historic District were constructed between 1913 and 1929. While the Depression of the 1930s ate up any large profits the developers expected, it did not prevent the orderly development of the suburb as it was originally planned. In 1928, the residents of North Anderson formed a corporation to take over all services and immediately merged it with the city of Anderson. The city then formally annexed the subdivision in 1928, which was the largest annexation in the county's history. Streetcar service was soon discontinued due to increased competition from the automobile and city buses. Anderson continued to make improvements in the area, such as straightening out Whitener Creek to reduce the frequency of flooding in the neighborhood, which according to the locals, turned the park into a lake after a heavy rain (Harden 2003).
After the end of World War II, the shift to the automobile, along with major road improvements, encouraged the construction of additional suburbs in Anderson. These newer subdivision were developed northeast of Anderson, and consisted of modern ranch-style residences, a form deemed more suitable to contemporary American life than those found in once desirable North Anderson. By the 1970s, commercial development began to encroach along the northern and northeastern boarders of the North Anderson. However, these modern intrusions were kept at the edges of the district, and the interior core remains intact. In 1977, in an effort to recognize the history of the neighborhood, it was renamed "Linley Park" in honor of its founder.
Community Development Significance
The district survives as an intact and representative example of an early twentieth century middle class neighborhood, which as an entity characterizes the growth and development of Anderson's urban form and thus meets National Register Criterion A. Anderson's rapid industrialization led to an increase in population, which in turn created a shortage of urban lots deemed suitable to a growing, and more affluent class of people and their desires for new, modern housing situated in a park-like setting. This fact, combined with the transportation innovations of the early 20th century, led to the suburbanization of the city.
Architectural Significance
North Anderson Historic District has an exceptionally high degree of historic integrity. Though many of the buildings lack significant architectural integrity on their own, the area is historically important not because of individual buildings, but because of the landscape as a whole. Even though the streetcar tracks have been replaced, in part, by a landscaped median, the neighborhood still conveys uniformity and integrity, and retains a strong sense of its origins as an early twentieth century residential suburb. The continued maintenance of the landscape and public green spaces add to the integrity of the district and underlines the preservation of Linley's original vision of park-like pedestrian residential spaces.
The North Anderson Historic District is distinctive in character and coherence, and is distinguished from the adjacent blocks by scale and integrity. The district possesses integrity of design, setting, and materials. Virtually all important American architectural styles from 1900-1950 are represented in the district. Some styles are represented by a particularly fine individual example; others are represented by a group of properties that as a whole exhibit the characteristics of the style.
The District is significant in relation to the visual and historic integrity of the area. The features that most frequently changed included replacement windows that may or may not repeat the original muntin configurations; new or replacement garages; and addition of large wooden decks. Furthermore, new additions on the rear of buildings and replacement of roofing materials do not detract from the sense of the neighborhood. Many of these changes, such as the construction of garages or rear additions, are not visible from the street. None of the changes have altered the scale, proportion, or major distinctive details of the buildings and as a result, only a few of the primary buildings have undergone changes deemed significant enough to classify them as noncontributing buildings.
Transportation Significance
The two-mile electric streetcar line developed by Linley's Anderson Traction Company aided development in North Anderson. Detached houses were promptly constructed with the completion of the new streetcar lines. East-west streets, the closest to the streetcar lines, had the more expensive houses, while the more modest dwelling were constructed on the north-south numbered streets. This transportation revolution made its debut in late 1913, and ran from downtown Anderson to its termination point at Boundary Street, which was located on the northern end of the subdivision. The electric streetcar made the commute to Anderson significantly shorter than the antiquated horse cars, which were first used to transport North Anderson residents to the city. The electric streetcar was an immense success from its onset, and was utilized not only by residents, but also by others wishing to visit the subdivisions beautiful park or to watch Anderson's first "open air" movie theater, which was located at the northern end of the park. Here, residents would sit on blankets, and view movies shown on what was essentially a makeshift screen (Harden 2003).
The North Anderson Historic District remains a residentially intact and stable neighborhood that has retained the same mix of middle-and-upper income professionals as it did at the beginning of the 20th century. Unlike many early streetcar suburbs in America, this subdivision has not undergone a conversion of its substantial single-dwelling buildings into multi-dwelling units, nor did it experience major modifications of its streetscape.
The North Anderson Historic District is distinctive in character and coherence, and is distinguished from the adjacent blocks by scale and integrity. The district possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, and association. The integrity of the original neighborhood and its residential character continue to be preserved and maintained.
Bibliography
‡ Christa A. Smith, Associate Professor with Anderson Heritage, Inc. and South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, North Anderson Historic District, Anderson County, South Carolina, nomination document, 2008, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.
The North Anderson Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. Portions of the content on this web page were adapted from a copy of the original nomination document. [‡]
The North Anderson Historic District is distinguished for its park-like atmosphere. The curvilinear streets are between 70 and 80 feet wide, and are lined with mature trees and island parks, which provide recreation areas for both the residents of North Anderson and the city of Anderson. The residential lots are large, with the majority sloping gently toward the island parks, which are situated throughout the neighborhood. The district is bounded on the south by Mauldin Drive, to the north by Boundary Street and to the west by Edgewood Drive. Most of the properties are located on Anderson Avenue, Blair Street, Central Avenue, Club Drive, Forest Avenue, Holly Street, Laurel Avenue, North Avenue, Park Drive, Watson Avenue, and Westview Avenue.
The district features early twentieth century Revival styles including Tudor, Colonial, and Neoclassical. Craftsman Bungalows and Minimal Traditional homes are also well represented. A few individual properties reflect an eclectic blend of more than one style.
The North Anderson Historic District is distinguishable as an intact collection of early twentieth century Revivals and American Movements. Some styles are epitomized by particularly fine individual examples; others are represented by a group of properties that collectively exhibit the characteristics of the styles.
The North Anderson Historic District is also significant for its history associated with the themes of Community Planning and Development. The district represents the transformation of Anderson's rural landscape into a planned urban residential development. From 1913 to circa 1950, the period of significance, the area evolved from small, family-owned farms and recreational forests, to the first ring of suburban development in the city. The period of significance marks the decades during which the district took its shape, and the development patterns established closely paralleled the early twentieth century transportation innovations. These innovations, especially the electric streetcar, enabled a rising class of textile industrial managers and other white-collar professions to live in the outer reaches of Anderson, that were made accessible by this mode of transportation. The district also reflects the demand for housing in this rapidly growing city, created by the shift from a rural regional economy to an industrial one. During this period, Anderson underwent tremendous industrial growth with six textile manufacturing complexes located within or near the municipal boundaries of the city (Watkins 1992).
Anderson, the political seat of the county bearing the same name, was founded in 1826 and incorporated in 1833. The city's municipal boundaries were laid out in a radius of one mile in each direction from the courthouse (Badders 1983). From the early 1800s until the turn of the twentieth century, the economy of Anderson was based on providing goods and services to a hinterland that consisted mainly of general farming and cotton farming families. It also served as a collection and distribution point for cotton. In 1853, Anderson became a major stop on the Greenville and Columbia Railroad, bringing increased jobs and people to the area. The city's property values increased fourfold over the next decade (Edgar 1998).
Anderson's location at the southwestern end of a great textile-manufacturing belt, stretching from Danville, Virginia, to Gainesville, Georgia, combined with improved modes of transportation, encouraged the tremendous growth of manufacturing in the area (Steep 1945). Anderson was particularly attractive to industry because it had one of the first practical hydroelectric power plants in the nation. In 1890, "engineer William Whitner designed a municipal electrical system. The next year he convinced the city to buy an experimental 5,000-volt AC generator for a dam at High Shoals on the Seneca River. When this generator came on line in 1895, it was the largest one in the world" (Mack 2005). Soon after, Anderson became known as "The Electric City" (Badders 1983). By 1890, the city's population was just over 1,000 (U.S. Census of Population). Anderson Cotton Mill began operations during that year, bringing industry to the immediate Anderson area. The decades that followed emerged as one of the most prosperous periods in Anderson's history, with numerous textile mills located in or adjacent to the city. These factories included the Orr, Riverside, Brogan, and Gluck mills. Other industries, such as cottonseed oil mills and mattress factories, also opened in or near Anderson.
Progress continued to be made in other areas as well, especially the city's infrastructure. When an electric trolley system was introduced in 1904, Anderson became one of the smallest towns in the United States to have this mode of transportation (Ethridge 2003). Owned and operated by Anderson Traction Company, the original lines stretched from the courthouse to Riverside Mill, Orr Mill and to Gluck Mill. In 1913, Southern Power, a Duke Company bought Anderson Water, Light and Power Company. The city of Anderson also upgraded its sewer system, installed a white-way lighting system downtown, and carried out a street paving program that included all the public streets within its mile radius limits (Otter 2006). During the first two decades of the twentieth century, the population of Anderson increased 400 percent, to 10,000 people (U.S. Census of Population 1920). This population "boom" was directly related to the expansion of textile mills and the resulting downtown businesses, which in turn, triggered an increased need for residential housing in the city (Watkins 1995).
John Linley and North Anderson
In 1900 John W. Linley (1881-1957), a recent graduate of The Citadel, the military college of South Carolina in Charleston, returned to his hometown of Anderson in order to teach in the public schools. Linley proved to be a successful teacher and school administrator. In 1905 he was the principal of the Fant Street School (Woody 2003). Later he decided to switch to a more lucrative career. In 1907 he went into partnership with Frank Farmers and began Linley and Farmers Insurance Company. Soon after, Linley saw the need for residential expansion in the city and, in January 1913 began promoting the development property he owned that was located in an area immediately outside the city limits. Linley had previously grown cotton on this property and hired local labor to harvest the crop; however depressed cotton prices convinced him to shift the land use from agriculture to residential. He called the new subdivision "North Anderson" because it was located north (and west) of Anderson's central business district. Linley convinced prominent local citizens to invest in the North Anderson Development Company to develop the property.
In March 1913, 200 lots were plotted. The subdivision called for all modern conveniences, including a sewer line, (which was completed in 1915), electricity, a trolley system (see: Streetcar Suburbs, 1888 to 1928), and a 37-acre park adjacent to Whitner Creek. Linley was a tireless promoter of this new neighborhood; he built his own home in the center of the nearly uninhabited subdivision and took out twice-weekly advertisements in the city's newspaper, the Anderson Independent-Mail, with the slogans "A home of your own, is a home indeed", and "A home at a very low cost, yet as high class as can be found", and "Join the log cabin club! We have a regular department store when it comes to lots. Lots from $300 to $3,000" (Anderson Independent-Mail January-February, 1913).
Perhaps Linley's biggest advertising efforts began when he inaugurated the North Anderson Street Railway Company. Chartered in October 1913 by John Linley and C. G. Boleman, the nearly two miles of track ran from North Main Street to Westview Avenue, located on the northern edge of the subdivision. The car barn for the electric trolleys was located behind Linley's home. The electric cars were pulled by an overhead trolley wire using direct electric current so the cars could be reserved for the return trip. Linley, realizing that potential customers were concerned with the distance to the city, outlined the value of building a house in North Anderson. The ads claimed: "You save $1,000 to $1250 on the price of your lot by buying in North Anderson (instead of town). The interest alone on $1,000 to $1250 will pay for 1,600 to 2,000 car fares (trolley rides) per year. You save $50 to $75 city taxes by making your home in North Anderson" (Anderson Independent-Mail October, 1913). Directly across from his house, in a center section of Whitner Park, he constructed a large log cabin that housed both a waiting room for trolley passengers and the North Anderson Development Company's real estate office. The streetcar ran on a thirty-minute schedule from the courthouse (Watkins 1992).
For over a decade, North Anderson was the most desired place to build a home. Linley was committed to building a subdivision where homes would last a lifetime, and residents would embrace them as their lifelong homes. Restrictive covenants, which were designed to maintain the residential nature of the area and provide a funding mechanism for maintenance of the park and streets, were implemented and strictly enforced. Typical of the Jim Crow era, African-Americans were not allowed to purchase homes in this all white neighborhood (Anderson County South Carolina Register of Deeds, 1913-1949).
Approximately 70 percent of the houses in the North Anderson Historic District were constructed between 1913 and 1929. While the Depression of the 1930s ate up any large profits the developers expected, it did not prevent the orderly development of the suburb as it was originally planned. In 1928, the residents of North Anderson formed a corporation to take over all services and immediately merged it with the city of Anderson. The city then formally annexed the subdivision in 1928, which was the largest annexation in the county's history. Streetcar service was soon discontinued due to increased competition from the automobile and city buses. Anderson continued to make improvements in the area, such as straightening out Whitener Creek to reduce the frequency of flooding in the neighborhood, which according to the locals, turned the park into a lake after a heavy rain (Harden 2003).
After the end of World War II, the shift to the automobile, along with major road improvements, encouraged the construction of additional suburbs in Anderson. These newer subdivision were developed northeast of Anderson, and consisted of modern ranch-style residences, a form deemed more suitable to contemporary American life than those found in once desirable North Anderson. By the 1970s, commercial development began to encroach along the northern and northeastern boarders of the North Anderson. However, these modern intrusions were kept at the edges of the district, and the interior core remains intact. In 1977, in an effort to recognize the history of the neighborhood, it was renamed "Linley Park" in honor of its founder.
Community Development Significance
The district survives as an intact and representative example of an early twentieth century middle class neighborhood, which as an entity characterizes the growth and development of Anderson's urban form and thus meets National Register Criterion A. Anderson's rapid industrialization led to an increase in population, which in turn created a shortage of urban lots deemed suitable to a growing, and more affluent class of people and their desires for new, modern housing situated in a park-like setting. This fact, combined with the transportation innovations of the early 20th century, led to the suburbanization of the city.
Architectural Significance
North Anderson Historic District has an exceptionally high degree of historic integrity. Though many of the buildings lack significant architectural integrity on their own, the area is historically important not because of individual buildings, but because of the landscape as a whole. Even though the streetcar tracks have been replaced, in part, by a landscaped median, the neighborhood still conveys uniformity and integrity, and retains a strong sense of its origins as an early twentieth century residential suburb. The continued maintenance of the landscape and public green spaces add to the integrity of the district and underlines the preservation of Linley's original vision of park-like pedestrian residential spaces.
The North Anderson Historic District is distinctive in character and coherence, and is distinguished from the adjacent blocks by scale and integrity. The district possesses integrity of design, setting, and materials. Virtually all important American architectural styles from 1900-1950 are represented in the district. Some styles are represented by a particularly fine individual example; others are represented by a group of properties that as a whole exhibit the characteristics of the style.
The District is significant in relation to the visual and historic integrity of the area. The features that most frequently changed included replacement windows that may or may not repeat the original muntin configurations; new or replacement garages; and addition of large wooden decks. Furthermore, new additions on the rear of buildings and replacement of roofing materials do not detract from the sense of the neighborhood. Many of these changes, such as the construction of garages or rear additions, are not visible form the street. None of the changes have altered the scale, proportion, or major distinctive details of the buildings and as a result, only a few of the primary buildings have undergone changes deemed significant enough to classify them as noncontributing buildings.
Transportation Significance
The two-mile electric streetcar line developed by Linley's Anderson Traction Company aided development in North Anderson. Detached houses were promptly constructed with the completion of the new streetcar lines. East-west streets, the closest to the streetcar lines, had the more expensive houses, while the more modest dwelling were constructed on the north-south numbered streets. This transportation revolution made its debut in late 1913, and ran from downtown Anderson to its termination point at Boundary Street, which was located on the northern end of the subdivision. The electric streetcar made the commute to Anderson significantly shorter than the antiquated horse cars, which were first used to transport North Anderson residents to the city. The electric streetcar was an immense success from its onset, and was utilized not only by residents, but also by others wishing to visit the subdivisions beautiful park or to watch Anderson's first "open air" movie theater, which was located at the northern end of the park. Here, residents would sit on blankets, and view movies shown on what was essentially a makeshift screen (Harden 2003).
The North Anderson Historic District remains a residentially intact and stable neighborhood that has retained the same mix of middle-and-upper income professionals as it did at the beginning of the 20th century. Unlike many early streetcar suburbs in America, this subdivision has not undergone a conversion of its substantial single-dwelling buildings into multi-dwelling units, nor did it experience major modifications of its streetscape.
The North Anderson Historic District is distinctive in character and coherence, and is distinguished from the adjacent blocks by scale and integrity. The district possesses integrity of location, design, setting, materials, and association. The integrity of the original neighborhood and its residential character continue to be preserved and maintained.
Bibliography
‡ Christa A. Smith, Associate Professor with Anderson Heritage, Inc. and South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, North Anderson Historic District, Anderson County, South Carolina, nomination document, 2008, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.
Nearby Neighborhoods
Street Names
Anderson Avenue • Blair Street • Boundary Street • Central Avenue • Club Drive • Edgewood Avenue • Forest Avenue • Glenwood Avenue • Holly Street South • Laurel Avenue • North Avenue • North Avenue East • North Avenue West • Park Drive • Pine Hill Lane • Taylor Street • Watson Avenue • Westview Avenue