Latta

History

Latta was established in 1887. More specifically, it was named after Captain Robert Latta, who was from York County, South Carolina; he orchestrated the engineering for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Latta is home to one of the 13 Carnegie public library buildings in South Carolina. The Latta library opened in 1914 and is "one of five of South Carolina's original 14 Carnegie libraries still in use as a library." The post office in Latta has been in operation since 1888. In April 2014, Mayor Earl Bullard fired Police Chief Crystal Moore, allegedly because Moore is lesbian. Bullard said on the telephone, "I would much rather have — and I will say this to anybody's face — somebody who drank and drank too much taking care of my child than I had somebody whose lifestyle is questionable around children. … I'm not going to let two women stand up there and hold hands and let my child be aware of it. And I'm not going to see them do it with two men neither." In June 2014, Latta residents voted in favor of changing from a "strong mayor" government to a "strong council" government, which allowed the town council to reinstate Crystal Moore as Latta's police chief, which they did unanimously on June 28, 2014. The following are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Joel Allen House, Catfish Creek Baptist Church, Early Cotton Press, John Hayes Farmstead, Latta Downtown Historic District, Latta Historic District No. 1, Latta Historic District No. 2, McMillan House, and Old Ebenezer Church.

Geography

Latta is located in southern Dillon County. U.S. Routes 301 and 501 pass through the center of town as Second Avenue, leading northeast to Dillon, the county seat. US 501 leads south to Marion, while US 301 diverges from US 501 south of town and leads southwest to Florence. South Carolina Highway 917 is Main Street in Latta, leading west to Interstate 95 at Exit 181, and southeast to Mullins. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Turkey Vulture

  Cathartes aura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  438
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  289
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  278
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  274
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  253
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  251
• Eastern Bluebird

  Sialia sialis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  216
• Common Grackle

  Quiscalus quiscula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  198

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2012-07-29
  7 km NNW of Wallace, South Carolina
• M 2.9 — 2011-03-21
  9 km S of Cordova, North Carolina
• M 3.7 — 2006-09-25
  7 km W of Rowland, North Carolina
• M 3.4 — 2006-09-22
  4 km WSW of Blenheim, South Carolina