Central lay midway between Atlanta, Georgia, and Charlotte, North Carolina, 133 miles from each, and became the focus of a railroad boom in the early 1870s. The Keowee Courier reported that President Buford of the Air Line Railroad drove the last spike at Seneca River on August 26, 1873. Even before South Carolina incorporated Central on March 17, 1875, the railroad had added a depot, new sidetracks, a repair shop, a framing shop, a Y turntable, a water tank, and a coal chute. Railroad scholars debate the original construction date of the Railroad Hotel, but The Pickens Sentinel reported that it was thoroughly remodeled in 1887. Central was designated as the railroad terminal where engines were refueled and changed, and shops were built for railway workers. Engineers, conductors, and telegraph operators brought their families, built homes, and settled in the area. In the 1880s, homes and businesses sprang up on the south side of the tracks, including Morgan Store and the home of F.B. Morgan, now the site of Central Railway Museum. In the late 1890s, railroad facilities were moved to Greenville, South Carolina. After a devastating fire destroyed homes and stores in 1898, the town's economy went into major decline. In the early 1900s, Southern Wesleyan University and Issaqueena Cotton Mill were built, became integral parts of the community, and helped the town rebuild on a different economy.