92 replies to this topic

[sumter]

I have visit this website several times. I have seen that SUMTER-SC is being pic on.I think sumter-sc is a better looking city than Florence-sc and also bigger.SUMTER-SC POPULATION IS IS NOT 39,649.The population here is 42,000 visit www.SUMTER-SC.COM.There is a lot of  things being done to sumter-sc downtown by Ray Reich.There is a APARTMENT COMPLEX ABOUT 6 STORIES HIGH COMING TO THE DOWNTOWN AREA WITH JOEY'S SEAFOOD RESTURANT ON THE FIRST FLOOR.The Jim Clyburn Transportation Center being built that is going to house the city transit, greyhound, and amtrak train station.Look at Tuomey Regional Hospital in the downtown area.For my understanding they just bought some more land with in the city to bulid a women's center, physical therapist center,and a physical fittness center. Take a look at our new renovated library that sits beside the City- County office builing. That building looks  better than the florence building that you all posted on here even the Brown DHEC building that sits on Magnolia street.We may not have a skyline.but we do have some nice mid size buildings that are in good shape. I must say that our downtown area has a lot of potential to have a skyline.Now that Shaw afb is not closing the city is about to tripple it size now that the Third Army HQ is coming. There are a lot of stripmalls being built.Houses and Apartment complexes are being built as well.Sumter will never be a part of Columbia-sc msa because wateree river separates richland co. from sumter co. There fore Sumter-sc does not rely on COL. nor Flo. IF ANY OF YOU EVER VISITS SUMTER-SC IN THE FUTURE LOOK AT THE CHANGES THAT ARE BEING MADE HERE.Even Central Carolina TECH COLLEGE HAD JUST RECIEVED $2MILLION from the State Legislature to start building a downtown college campus for students to attend to get there nursing degree etc.I think this is a good website so that everyone can be proud of there city growth.

[HAMMETTM]

Being a Sumterite I'd say that I believe the census bureau is correct with its 39,000 estimate for Sumter's population. Although Sumter's population was at once 42k (which isn't too far from 39k), the city has lost some residents.

Also, I wouldn't say anyone is bashing Sumter on this forum. IMO Sumter is rarely mentioned on UP.

On the subject of Sumter's size in relation to Florence, I would say that Florence seems a little larger than Sumter. Also, if I'm correct, Florence also has a larger population than Sumter.

With that said, I'm not sure if the Wateree river would stop any sprawl from Columbia spreading east or from Sumter spreading west. I'm happy that my hometown is in its own MSA but with the development on US 378 further spreading west, I'm not so sure Sumter will always have its own MSA.

BTW, Welcome to the forum and thanks for putting sumter on UP's map  

[krazeeboi]

Welcome to the forum, sumter. We hope that you will provide us with some updates of what's going on in your city. If you feel Sumter is being misrepresented in any way, feel free to give your thoughts--of course, in a respectful, non-confrontational way.

[sonofaque86]

Wow.....Welcome to urban planet! Wow, you really love Sumter! I'm glad you addressed all the things happening in Sumter because it is rarely talked about on here.

[Spartan]

Welcome to the forum, sumter!

I appreciate your passion for your city. Quite frankly, we just don't have enough Sumter representation on UrbanPlanet to make for good accurate discussions. We rely on what we hear from other news outlets and databases, etc. If you feel information shared here is incorrect then please tell us what it is and why... and always list a source.

Since you are new, I will cut you some slack. We respect ALL opinions here, but we simply ask that you state them in a respectful manner. For example, if you feel Sumter is more attractive than Florence by all means say it- but state some reasons why you think that.

Population figures are tabulated by the Census Bureau and they are updated each year to reflect the current popualtion estimates. The Census is not always the mosta accurate, but its something that is done on a level playing field so that comparing one city to another is easier. That 39,159 figure is what we use in discussions because its the latest Census estimate. Many times cities will round up to show a slighly higher population. For example, my hometown of Spartanburg's website rounds the City's population up to 40,000 or something, when in reality it is 38,561.

Another, more common method we use is the Urban Area statistic, also defined by the Census, which is a more accurate measure of city size because it does not rely on arbitrary political boundaries. Sumter's is 85,708.

Your argument about MSA's is not valid. The Census bases its MSA designations on many things, and a major part of it is the number of commuters and aeconomic factors. So, while Sumter won't physically grow into Columbia any time soon, it may be more tied to it than you think. But then again you may be right.

Also, it appears you are correct about Florence being smaller than Sumter... It has about 31,000 in the city and an Urban Area of 67,314- about 20,000 less than Sumter.

Please keep us up to date on what's happening in Sumter. Like I said, we need more Sumterites to help discuss what's going on there!

[krazeeboi]

To me, Florence has always felt bigger than Sumter. I guess that's because Florence is basically the hub of its region, the Pee Dee.

If the most recent available commuting statistics suggest anything, it will be a while before Sumter County is added to Columbia's CSA or MSA.

[reeeems]

Welcome, sumter.

I'm a sumterite, but I don't keep up too much with what's going on in my hometown.

[Spartan]

krazeeboi, on Jul 24 2007, 06:56 PM, said:

To me, Florence has always felt bigger than Sumter. I guess that's because Florence is basically the hub of its region, the Pee Dee.

If the most recent available commuting statistics suggest anything, it will be a while before Sumter County is added to Columbia's CSA or MSA.

Me too. But perception is not always truth.

[sumter]

Well i just want to say that Sumter was once back in the 1900s was a very populated city.and had a nice downtown area.GOING BACK FURTHER INTO HISTORY When General Thomas Sumter was living The STATE LEGISLATURE put Statesburg-SC here in SUMTER CO on the Ballot to be voted on the next State capital,after Charleston-sc, but Statesburg lost by one vote against Columbia -sc.ALSO Sumter was cheated on the i-95 when they did the alignment,but it is ok Sumter has a lot of advantage,but the city council has to know how to use there strategy by putting some commercial business on U.S.378 TOWARD 95 IF THEY WANT KEEP UP WITH BIG BOYS.

[Spartan]

Many cities in SC have similar histories. Like I said, I appreciate your enthusasim- but please try to use better grammar. Its difficult to read your posts.

I always heard that Statesburg used to be called something else, but they changed their name to "Statesburg" to get noticed by the General Assembly. Camden was also in the running.

[reeeems]

Yeah, Sumter missed out on I20, I95, and being the state capitol (Stateburg). Apparently politics and geography have not been kind to us. I suppose things could've turned out much differently. I've always thought it was funny how populated the Sumter area is, yet you never hear anyone discussing it, not just on UP.

Sumter is at the convergence of several different regions. Columbia folks don't seem to want to include it in the midlands, even though it's closer to the geographic center of the state than Cola. Florence folks don't want it to be a part of the Pee Dee, even though it lies in the Pee Dee River basin. It's not quite in "Santee Cooper Country," but it's on the border.

Edited by reeeems, 25 July 2007 - 05:49 AM.

[Captain Worley]

Sumter's historic district has made a dramatic turnaround in the last decade.  Once abandoned, or cut up into apartments, a lot of the great old homes have been restored to their former glory.

Main Street could really be a showpeice, if Sumter put their minds to it.  

I wouldn't want to live their, but I enjoy visiting every so often.

[HAMMETTM]

Sumter did not miss out on I-95 albeit the city center is pretty far from the interstate. What happened is that Sumter just didn't develop it's portion of I-95. Remember, when you travel 378 towards Myrtle Beach you're not in Clarendon County until you've crossed the overpass (which passes over I-95). Sumter even has an exit off of I-95. All it would take is a little development and then there would be an econonmic impact from the travelers that traverse 95 and exit into Sumter. This is one thing that Florence did right and is the reason it seems larger than Sumter.

Also, I've never heard anyone dismissing Sumter as being a part of the midlands. If you check out any of the local news here in Columbia, you'll see they include Sumter as a city in the midlands.

Spartan, on Jul 24 2007, 05:32 PM, said:

Another, more common method we use is the Urban Area statistic, also defined by the Census, which is a more accurate measure of city size because it does not rely on arbitrary political boundaries. Sumter's is 85,708.

How are UA's calcualted?

[krazeeboi]

The US Census Bureau defines an urban area as: "Core census block groups or blocks that have a population density of at least 1,000 people per square mile (386 per square kilometer) and surrounding census blocks that have an overall density of at least 500 people per square mile (193 per square kilometer)." Urbanized areas have at least 50K people; under that threshold, they are referred to as urban clusters.

[HAMMETTM]

^Thanks Krazee

[Spartan]

HAMMETTM, on Jul 25 2007, 04:39 PM, said:

Also, I've never heard anyone dismissing Sumter as being a part of the midlands. If you check out any of the local news here in Columbia, you'll see they include Sumter as a city in the midlands.

Thats interesting. I've never heard of it NOT being in the Midlands. What region do native's consider Sumter to be in?

[sonofaque86]

I've never heard it not being in the Midlands either. Some of the radio stations are like SUMTER-COLUMBIA sometimes.

[Captain Worley]

Spartan, on Jul 25 2007, 10:46 PM, said:

Thats interesting. I've never heard of it NOT being in the Midlands. What region do native's consider Sumter to be in?

The ones I know consider it part of the midlands.

[HAMMETTM]

I've always considered myself as being part of the Midlands. The first time I have ever experienced any debate about it was right here on UP . Other Sumterites have more of an association with Columbia or the Midlands than with Florence or the Pee Dee region of the state.

[reeeems]

Growing up in Sumter, I never thought of it being in the midlands. I thought of Columbia, Irmo, Lexington, Lugoff, and others as being such. Obviously there's no set definition of "midlands". Some people include Sumter, some people don't. You can definitely make arguments for both. I'm not aware of any organizations or businesses based in Sumter that use the term "midlands" -  that is something you find in Columbia.

I will say that radio and television stations like to call us the midlands, because we don't have a major network affiliate in Sumter, Columbia's radio stations typically reach the city of Sumter, and of course these outlets have a fiduciary interest in capturing the Sumter market as part of the midlands.

I'm not claiming the following are authoritative, I'm just doing a google search:

-The "SC Business Development Club of the Midlands"  doesn't include Sumter.
-The State newspaper doesn't consider Sumter a part of the midlands. In the context of sports, at least, none of Sumter's schools are included in the "Midlands Roundup", "Midlands Preview", etc., yet the Orangeburg and Calhoun schools are.
-The "MIMS Hub" (Midlands Improving Math and Science) doesn't include Sumter - only Richland/Lexington.
-The United Way of the Midlands serves 6 Counties: Richland, Lexington, Fairfield, Orangeburg, Newberry, and Calhoun..   but not Sumter
-The "Central Midlands Council of Governments" does not include Sumter, only Fairfield, Lexington, Newberry, and Richland
-The Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority does not include Sumter
-Midlands Technical College does not serve Sumter
-USC's "Midlands Writing Project" does not include Sumter
-The "Window Coverings Association of America" has a midlands chapter, which doesn't include Sumter ....  

.. ok.. I know most of these are obscure, I'm just saying that it's debatable whether Sumter is the midlands or not. You could do a similar search involving "Pee Dee" or "Santee Cooper", and you'll find that Sumter tends to bounce in and out of different regional organizations. Personally, I think of us as the Pee Dee, and not the midlands. My perception is that most Sumterites think of Sumter as in the Pee Dee, since the Black River runs through Sumter County.



As you can see, this map from SCDHEC shows that the city of Sumter, and most of Sumter County is in the Pee Dee watershed. Maybe when I cross over the Wateree River, going west towards Columbia, I'll say I'm in "The Midlands"

Edited by reeeems, 26 July 2007 - 10:35 AM.