Sumter - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

SUMTER, a city and the county-seat of Sumter county, South Carolina, U.S.A., 42 m. by rail E. by S. of Columbia. Pop. (1900) 5673 (3160 negroes); (1910) 8109. Sumter is served by several divisions of the Atlantic Coast line and by the Southern railways. It is the seat of St Joseph's Academy (Roman Catholic) for girls. The region produces tobacco, vegetables and cotton, and there are various manufactories in the city. Sumter was founded in 1800 and was named in honour of General Thomas Sumter; it was first chartered as a city in 1887.