Florence, SC news and local guide

During the Civil War the town was an important Confederate supply and railroad repair center and the site of the Florence Stockade, which held between 12,000 and 18,000 Union prisoners of war. More than 2,800 of them died of disease and were buried there, and the burial ground became the Florence National Cemetery after the war. The City of Florence was chartered in 1871 by the Reconstruction government and incorporated in 1890, after Florence County was created in 1888. After the war it prospered by shipping cotton, timber and, by 1900, tobacco by rail. In the 20th century its economy came to rely heavily on health care, with two major hospitals and several pharmaceutical plants, and after World War II it became known for textiles, pharmaceuticals, paper and other manufacturing. The Community Players, founded in 1923, began the city's theater tradition. Sources Wikipedia: Florence, South Carolina