S C T E CHN I CA L CO L L E G E S Y S T EM ’ S
F I R S T 5 0 Y EAR S
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The 1960s
M O B I L I Z I N G A G R E A T R E S O U R C E
1963 1964
1963:
Spartanburg TEC and Richland TEC were established. A
federal grant of $5.6 million made available through the
Manpower Development Training Act
was used to establish a new
program called STEP (Special Training for Economic Progress) and
represented the first large-scale effort in the state to provide
occupational and literacy skills to the disadvantaged.
1964:
Florence-Darlington TEC,
Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester TEC,
and York TEC were founded.
re-election to the state Senate in 1963, John Carl West caught
some flack for not bringing more industry to his home county.
In his memoir, West recalled, “As I traveled about the county,
stopping at country stores, which were still the political head-
quarters in the various communities, I found this refrain: ‘John,
you’ve gotten a lot of publicity about industry, but I don’t see any
industry in Kershaw County. Have you forgotten the folks who
put you where you are?’ I knew this was a fatal accusation.”
This accusation haunted West, so he asked Hollings to help
him find a company that might come to the area. Enter the Elgin
Watch Company, which was wanting to move from Elgin, Illi-
nois. West showed them sites in Camden, but they didn’t want
to compete for the labor market against the local cut-and-sew
operation — the Tic Tac Company.
West again—“The Elgin representatives had been shown sites
in Lexington County, and they were seriously considering it.
Somewhat in desperation, I said, ‘Well, why not look at Blaney.’
I-20, the interstate from Columbia through Camden, was in the
process of construction, and I showed them how it would pro-
vide easy access to a plant at Blaney.”
The Elgin vice president asked West if he could put a sign on
the interstate saying, “Blaney—The Home of Elgin Watch.” West
immediately called the Highway Department.
“No way, the regulations absolutely prohibit any such signs.”
The Elgin representative said, “Well maybe we ought to go
back to that Lexington site.”
Suddenly, an idea hit John Carl West. “Suppose we change the
name of Blaney to Elgin.”
The Elgin rep looked at West. “Would that be possible?”
“It just might be if you locate there.”
“If you can get it done, I believe we will.”
After some finagling, the town voted to change its name. “In
the meantime,” said West, “we convinced the Elgin Company
we could produce watches, so we used the Special Schools
program and took over the Blaney gymnasium, had El-
gin Watch Company install their machines, and trained
some of their people along with local people as supervi-
sor-trainees.”
West had Elgin design 500 watches with hour and min-
ute hands as palmetto trees. “They were attractive,” said West,
“but we were faced with the problem of what to do with them.”
