For every business that is open on West Main Street in the Pee Dee town of Timmonsville, S.C., some six businesses are shuttered, including those pictured above. Open on the lonely street are a church, town hall, furniture shop, small chain general store and a bank. But there were 18 closed businesses along three blocks of the city’s hub street last month.
Fortunately for the community, Honda Motor Company located a facility several years back that builds all-terrain vehicles and personal watercrafts nearby, which helped employment levels. Still, per capita income for the town was $11,714 in 2000. In 2010, the town had 2,315 people. Ten years later, it had grown by five people.
Timmonsville’s poverty rate was 26.6 percent in 2000, much higher than its home county, Florence, which had 19.4 percent poverty in 2010. Florence, just a few miles away from Timmonsville, is the largest city in the Pee Dee with 37,498 people in 2012. Florence County had 137,948 people, according to a 2012 estimate.
- More on Timmonsville from Wikipedia.
- QuickFacts about Florence County and the City of Florence.
Copyrighted photo was taken Nov. 19, 2013, by Andy Brack. All rights reserved.
I was just through Timmonsville this past Friday. We rode by where the first home I remember was. There is a church there now, thank goodness. Then rode by my schools, HS sad…Grammer School looked good but all the wonderful playground equipment gone but not forgotten. My last home looked great but they have removed all the trees and shrubbery my Parents slaved over. As we rode through the DOWNTOWN AREA I noticed the buildings beautiful architecture. They are worth saving! Please developer, come in and do something with that srip. An outlet mall would draw off of the interstate and nearby communities as well. Then use some of the money that keeps disappearing to fix the town up .