<P> The last lynching in the South Carolina occurred in Greenville on February 16, 1947, when Willie Earle, accused of stabbing a cab driver, was taken from his jail cell by a mob and murdered . Thirty - one men were tried and acquitted of the crime . </P> <P> After World War II Greenville's economy surged with the establishment of new downtown stores and the expansion of the city limits . Furman University doubled its student population and moved to a new location . Higher education facilities such as Bob Jones University in 1947 and Greenville Technical College in 1962 were established in Greenville . The Greenville--Spartanburg International Airport was established in nearby Greer in 1962 . The economy of Greenville finally waned in the 1970s leaving a void in downtown Greenville due to the flight of many retailers . Mayor Max Heller revitalized downtown Greenville by establishing the Greenville County Museum of Art and the Hughes Main Library . Main Street was then converted into a two - lane road lined with trees and sidewalks . </P> <P> Greenville is located at 34 ° 50 ′ 40" N 82 ° 23 ′ 8" W ﻿ / ﻿ 34.84444 ° N 82.38556 ° W ﻿ / 34.84444; - 82.38556 (34.844313, − 82.385428), roughly equidistant between Atlanta (145 miles (233 km) southwest), and Charlotte, North Carolina (100 miles (160 km) northeast). Columbia, the state capital, is 100 miles (160 km) to the southeast . </P> <P> Greenville is in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian Mountains range, and includes many small hills . Sassafras Mountain, the highest point in South Carolina, is in northern Pickens County, less than 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Greenville . Many area television and radio station towers are on Paris Mountain, the second most prominent peak in the area, 8 miles (13 km) north of downtown Greenville . According to the United States Census Bureau, Greenville has a total area of 28.8 square miles (74.6 km), of which 28.7 square miles (74.3 km) are land and 0.2 square miles (0.4 km), or 0.51%, are water . The Reedy River, a tributary of the Saluda River, runs through the center of the city . </P>

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