"P" is for Pacolet (Spartanburg County; 2010 population 2,690). Some people believe that “Pacolet” is a Cherokee word meaning “fast-running horse,” while others hold that it comes from the last name of an early French settler. In the 1880s, textile manufacturing pioneer John H. Montgomery purchased 350 acres and opened a three-story, 10,000 spindle mill in full operation. By 1895 there were three mills with a capacity of 53,424 spindles and 1,864 looms—making it the largest textile manufacturing complex in Spartanburg County. In 1967 Deering Milliken purchased the mills and operated them until 1983. Unlike many upcountry mill villages, the town of Pacolet survived, due in part to well-built and maintained mill housing that kept its value and a municipal government that continued to provide services to town residents after the mill closed.