Spartanburg County, South Carolina: History
The county was founded in 1785 and was named after the Spartan Rifles (Spartan Regiment) which was a local militia during the American Revolutionary War. The largest community and the county seat is Spartanburg, which resides in Upstate South Carolina.
The ship USS Spartanburg County is named after the county.
Spartanburg County was the center of the 2025-2026 South Carolina measles outbreak. By the end of January 2026, South Carolina exceeded any other state in terms of confirmed measles cases with over 990 cases mostly centered around Spartanburg County. The county was ground zero for the largest measles outbreak since 2000, the year that measles was declared eliminated in the United States. Spartanburg has been characterized by extensive vaccine skepticism and low vaccination rates; at one school, only 20 percent of students were vaccinated.