The Greenville and Columbia Railroad, founded in 1845, began construction in 1849 and reached Greenville in 1853, with a branch at Belton to Anderson known as the Blue Ridge Railroad. Belton grew up around the junction of these two railroads, which later merged after the Civil War, and the lines made the town the hub of passenger and freight service for Anderson District. Incorporated in 1855, Belton was named for Judge John Belton O'Neall, president of the Greenville and Columbia Railroad, and its square was laid out around the first depot. The Blue Ridge Railroad was acquired by the Southern Railway in the 1890s, and this depot was built in 1908-09. With an electric rail line added in 1902 and the arrival of the Piedmont and Northern Railroad in 1912, as many as 85 trains passed through Belton daily.