Abbeville

Front: Abbeville was founded in 1785 as the seat of newly created Abbeville County. It was then known as Abbeville Courthouse and was sited on land provided by Maj. Andrew Hamilton, near a natural spring that Gen. Andrew Pickens made available for public use. Tradition holds that Dr. John de la Howe, a Huguenot, selected the county and town name after Abbeville, France. The first post office opened in 1795. Around 400 free and enslaved people lived in Abbeville by the 1820s. Reverse: The Town of Abbeville officially incorporated in 1832. A branch line of the Greenville and Columbia Railroad reached the town in 1853. In the 19th century this square was the town’s public and commercial center. Most of the current buildings were constructed after major fires in 1872-73 destroyed much of downtown, including the courthouse and many public records. The streets of the square were first paved with brick in 1919, with much of the work done by Black bricklayers.