The town of Kershaw sits in both Kershaw and Lancaster counties, with a larger portion of the business section being in Lancaster. The area developed soon after Southern Railroad established a station in 1887 when it was known in its earliest days as Welsh’s Station. In 1888, Captain Welsh led the movement to apply for a charter to incorporate a new town which would be named Kershaw, in honor of Major Gen. J.B. Kershaw, a much admired South Carolinian in the post-Civil War years.