In the late 1950s, postwar industrial development took place throughout the West Wateree Area along U.S. Highway 1. In 1958 a deal was closed with the Whitehead Brothers Sand Company, which opened up a $300,000 sand foundry between Lugoff and Blaney. State Senator John West recruited the Elgin National Watch Company in 1962 to relocate to the area. The company was attracted to the unused land and potential labor market to be recruited from nearby Columbia. Residents voted to change the town's name from Blaney to Elgin in a landslide 61-16 vote. In September 1962, plans were confirmed to build a $1 million assembly plant in the town. The plant offered 240 jobs and received over a thousand applications when the hiring process started.