Chester County, South Carolina

3 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 3, ISSUE 7 , South Carolina C hester County, South Carolina has learned the hard lessons of past mistakes and has set itself up for a bright future. Once a bustling textile community, Chester County was left devastated when that industry dried up and abandoned the area in the 1980s. The county’s reliance on one major industry at the time meant that they faced steep unemployment and a huge gap in the economy. Since then, they’ve worked hard in recent decades to diversify their local economy. Dr. Wylie Frederick, Chester County’s Interim Supervisor shares, “We now have a diverse industrial base and I really like that because I saw Chester County during those times when it was predominantly textile… and what happened when that left. We got up to between 22 to 27 percent unemployment. Now, we have a little something for everybody with manufacturing changing all the time.” The county is now home to a variety of industry, including what they call “mature sectors,” Small county, big opportunities