Clarence Lawrence Glymph, Sr., was born in Newberry, South Carolina, to George and Minnie Glymph, married Dollie Ruff, and had seven children. In 1920, he moved his family to Gaffney and opened a market on East Meadow Street, where Glymph's Market used a credit system that benefited both customers and the business. In 1948, he began planning a more permanent structure and purchased land at 310 North Petty Street for a brick building that housed the market and other businesses; the Glymph Market building is one of the last remaining structures in the Black business district. In 1952, he became the first Black candidate to file for Gaffney City Council but withdrew because of threats from The Carolina Ku Klux Klan, an event documented in the February 28, 1952, issue of Jet Magazine and in local newspapers. He promoted college education and supported home ownership, served for many years as chair of the Deacon Board of Limestone Baptist Church, was a commissioner of the Boy Scouts of America, chaired the Negro Division of the Red Cross Community Chest Campaign, and as a member of Masonic Lodge #117 served as past master, treasurer, and on the Building Committee that planned and built the present Limestone Lodge Temple.