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In 1845 a group was created to connect the Piedmont region of South Carolina by rail to the existing rail system which then ran from Columbia to Charleston. The expanded rail line ran through what was to become Belton, with a spur line which ran to the nearby town of Anderson. Because of the population explosion that occurred by the time the railroad had been completed in 1853, the state incorporated the town in 1855, with the boundaries being located within a half mile radius from the new railroad depot. The city was given the name of Belton after the first president of the Columbia and Greenville Railroad from Newberry, John Belton O'Neal. The city prospered not only due to the railroad junction, but also because of the area's cotton crop, which led to the establishment of cotton mills.