Graniteville Historic District (South Carolina)

Last updated

Graniteville Historic District
DETAIL VIEW OF SOUTH SIDE OF NORTH STAIR TOWER. GRANITE STRUCTURE IN BACKGROUND IS THE 'PICKER HOUSE' AREA EXPANDED IN THE 1940s. - Graniteville Mill, Marshall Street, Graniteville HAER SC,2-GRANV,1-4.tif
View of the old mill tower
USA South Carolina location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location SC 191 and Gregg Street, Graniteville, South Carolina
Coordinates 33°34′0″N81°48′30″W / 33.56667°N 81.80833°W / 33.56667; -81.80833
Area55 acres (22 ha) [1]
Built1846 (1846)
Built by William Gregg
Architect J. B. White
Architectural style Carpenter Gothic
NRHP reference No. 78002491
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJune 2, 1978 [2]
Designated NHLDJune 2, 1978 [3]

The Graniteville Historic District encompasses one of the first textile company towns to be established in the Southern United States. Built in the late 1840s by William Gregg near Aiken, South Carolina, and now known as Graniteville, it was modeled after New England mill towns. Gregg used the success of this enterprise to advocate for the industrialization of the South, laying the groundwork for its eventual domination of the American textile industry. The district, which includes the original canal, mill building, mill worker housing, and a period church, was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1978. [2]

Contents

Description and history

William Gregg (1800-1867) had already had a successful career as a jeweler by the time he became involved in the textile industry in the 1840s. After touring New England and seeing its textile mills and industrial towns, he began advocating that the states of the Southern United States should industrialize to compete economically with the north. Gregg obtained financing from Charleston financiers to establish a model textile business, which would (controversially for the slavery-dominated South) employ white laborers. [1] [3]

Between 1845 and 1849 Gregg supervised the construction of a mile-long power canal, drawing water from Horse Creek and Bridge Creek, a mill building, schoolhouse, and 100 Carpenter Gothic wood frame worker housing units (of which 26 survive in good condition). He made available lots of land within the development for the construction of churches, of which two were eventually built. (One of these, St. John's Methodist Church, is still standing.) The mill was furnished with the most recent technology for spinning and weaving, and went into operation in 1849. The financial success of the enterprise prompted the development of other, similar mills elsewhere in the South. Development was interrupted by the American Civil War, although this facility was one of the mainstays of textile production in the Confederacy. Gregg's businesses continues to operate today, as Graniteville Specialty Fabrics. [1]

Graniteville is located west of Aiken, on the east side of Horse Creek, a tributary of the Savannah River to the southwest. The historic district includes the original 1846 power canal (no longer used for that purpose), which runs north from the center of Graniteville on the west side of Canal Street (South Carolina Highway 191). It also includes the original 1849 mill building, the 1847 Graniteville Academy building, St. John's Methodist Church, and the surviving line of 1840s worker houses on Gregg Street. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graniteville, South Carolina</span> Census-designated place in South Carolina, United States of America

Graniteville is a census-designated place (CDP) in Aiken County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 2,614 at the 2010 census. It lies along U.S. Route 1, five miles (8.0 km) west of Aiken in Horse Creek Valley, which originates in the nearby town of Vaucluse.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vaucluse, South Carolina</span> Census-designated place and Unincorporated community in South Carolina, United States of America

Vaucluse is an unincorporated community in Aiken County in the U.S. state of South Carolina. Vaucluse is part of the Augusta, Georgia metropolitan area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yukon–Charley Rivers National Preserve</span> United States national preserve in Alaska

Yukon–Charley Rivers National Preserve is a United States national preserve located in east central Alaska along the border with Canada. Managed by the National Park Service, the preserve encompasses 130 miles (208 km) of the 1,800-mile (3,000 km) Yukon River and the entire Charley River basin. The preserve protects the undeveloped Charley River and a significant portion of the upper Yukon. The interior Alaskan region experiences extremes of weather, with temperatures that can vary from −50 °F (−46 °C) in winter to 97 °F (36 °C) in summertime. The Yukon provided a means of access to the region, which is entirely roadless, during the late 19th century and early 20th centuries. Gold rushes in Alaska brought prospectors, who operated gold dredges to recover significant quantities of placer gold from area creeks. Today the preserve includes part of the route of the annual Yukon Quest dogsled race, which runs every February. During the summer float trips are popular on the Yukon and Charley Rivers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cannelton Cotton Mill</span> United States historic place

Cannelton Cotton Mill, also known as Indiana Cotton Mill, is a National Historic Landmark of the United States located in Cannelton, Indiana, United States. Built in 1849 as an effort to expand textile milling out of New England, it was the largest industrial building west of the Allegheny Mountains, designed by Thomas Alexander Tefft, an early industrial architect. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1991. The building now houses residences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company</span>

The South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company was a railroad in South Carolina that operated independently from 1830 to 1844. One of the first railroads in North America to be chartered and constructed, it provided the first steam-powered, scheduled passenger train service in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Gregg (industrialist)</span> American businessman and industrialist

William Gregg was an ardent advocate of industrialization in the antebellum Southern United States and the founder of the Graniteville Mill, the largest textile mill in South Carolina during the antebellum period. Gregg was a revolutionary figure in the textile industry. His practice of having his employees live in company-owned homes became common.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poinsett Bridge</span> Bridge in Greenville County, South Carolina

Poinsett Bridge is the oldest bridge in South Carolina and perhaps in the entire southeastern United States. Named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, it was built in 1820 as part of a road from Columbia, South Carolina, to Saluda Mountain. The stone bridge, which includes a 14-foot (4.3 m) Gothic arch and stretches 130 feet (40 m) over Little Gap Creek, may have been designed by Robert Mills, architect of the Washington Monument. Though no longer in use, the bridge remains largely intact and is part of the 120-acre (48.6 ha) Poinsett Bridge Heritage Preserve. There is a nature trail a few hundred yards from the bridge. The bridge, about which ghost stories have been told for decades, is located off U.S. Highway 25 north of Greenville, South Carolina. The bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Borough House Plantation</span> Historic house in South Carolina, United States

Borough House Plantation, also known as Borough House, Hillcrest Plantation and Anderson Place, is an historic plantation on South Carolina Highway 261, 0.8 miles (1.3 km) north of its intersection with U.S. Route 76/US Route 378 in Stateburg, in the High Hills of Santee near Sumter, South Carolina. A National Historic Landmark, the plantation is noted as the largest assemblage of high-style pisé structures in the United States. The main house and six buildings on the plantation were built using this technique, beginning in 1821. The plantation is also notable as the home of Confederate Army General Richard H. Anderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Aiken House and Associated Railroad Structures</span> Historic house in South Carolina, United States

The William Aiken House and Associated Railroad Structures make up a National Historic Landmark District in Charleston, South Carolina, that contains structures of South Carolina Canal and Railroad Company and the home of the company's founder, William Aiken. These structures make up one of the largest collection of surviving pre-Civil War railroad depot facilities in the United States. The district was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cowpens Furnace Site (38CK73)</span> Archaeological site in South Carolina, United States

Cowpens Furnace Site (38CK73) is the remains of an early 19th-century iron-making furnace in Cherokee County, South Carolina. The site shows early American iron-making technology. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lowell Power Canal System and Pawtucket Gatehouse</span> Historic district in Massachusetts, United States

The Lowell Power Canal System is the largest power canal system in the United States, at 5.6 miles in length. It is operating through six major canals on two levels, controlled by numerous gates. The system was begun in the 1790s, beginning its life as a transportation canal called the Pawtucket Canal, which was constructed to get logs from New Hampshire down the Merrimack River to shipbuilding centers at Newburyport, Massachusetts, bypassing the 30-plus-foot drop of the Pawtucket Falls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Loop Road</span> United States historic place

The Grand Loop Road is a historic district which encompasses the primary road system in Yellowstone National Park. Much of the 140-mile (230 km) system was originally planned by Captain Hiram M. Chittenden of the US Army Corps of Engineers in the early days of the park, when it was under military administration. The Grand Loop Road provides access to the major features of the park, including the Upper, Midway and Lower geyser basins, Mammoth Hot Springs, Tower Fall, the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and Yellowstone Lake.

Riverview Historic District is a historic district along the Chattahoochee River in River View, Alabama. It was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on December 19, 1991, and on the National Register of Historic Places on November 12, 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Price's Mill</span> United States historic place

Price's Mill, also known as Calliham's (Callaham's) Mill, Stone's Mill, and Park's Mill, is a water-powered gristmill about 2 mi (3 km) east of the town of Parksville on South Carolina Highway 33-138 at Stevens Creek in McCormick County. Its name in the USGS Geographic Names Information System is Prices Mill. It was built in the 1890s and was named to the National Register of Historic Places on November 22, 1972. At this time, it was one of the few remaining water-powered gristmills in South Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Langdale Historic District</span> Historic district in Alabama, United States

Langdale Historic District is a historic district in Valley, Alabama and Harris County, Georgia, United States. It was listed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage on July 22, 1991, and the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on November 12, 1999. It lies primarily in Valley, Alabama, on the West side of the Chattahoochee River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zion – Mount Carmel Highway</span> United States historic place

The Zion – Mount Carmel Highway is a 25-mile (40 km) long road in Washington and Kane counties in southern Utah, United States, that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horse Creek Valley</span>

Horse Creek Valley is a geographic area along Horse Creek, a tributary of the Savannah River. It lies within present-day Aiken County, South Carolina. The area is alternately referred to as "Midland Valley". Rising near Vaucluse, South Carolina, Horse Creek enters the Savannah two miles downstream of downtown Augusta, Georgia. Other communities along Horse Creek include Graniteville, Warrenville, Gloverville, Langley, Burnettown, Bath, and Clearwater. While Horse Creek itself is rather insignificant, its potential for water power led to early examples of Southern industrialization, including a textile mill at Vaucluse (1830) and William Gregg's Graniteville Mill (1845). The textile industry continued to play a primary role until the Graniteville Train Derailment and final closure of the Graniteville Mill in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monadnock Mills</span> United States historic place

The Monadnock Mills are a historic mill complex in Claremont, New Hampshire. They extend along the southern bank of the Sugar River on both sides of Water Street, between the Broad Street bridge to the east, and the junction of Main and Water Streets in the west, where they abut the industrial area formerly associated with the Sullivan Machinery Company; there also a small number of surviving elements on the north side of the river opposite this area. The complex represents the surviving elements of what was once the largest manufacturing complex in the upper Connecticut River watershed area, and one of its oldest. The mills were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Many of its buildings have been repurposed to other uses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buffalo Mill Historic District</span> Historic district in South Carolina, United States

Buffalo Mill Historic District is a national historic district located at Buffalo, Union County, South Carolina. The district encompasses 190 contributing buildings and 2 contributing structures associated with the Buffalo Mill textile mill complex and mill village. The mill complex includes the main mill, mill office, power house, ice factory, mill warehouse, company store, and company bank/drug store. The main mill building features applied stylized Romanesque Revival detailing. The mill village housing varies from large, free-classic, Queen Anne style supervisor's houses, to shingle-style bungalows, to simple, one-story, workers residences. The village also includes a school and a baseball field/park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hickman Mill Historic District</span> Historic district in South Carolina, United States

The Hickman Mill Historic District encompasses an early 20th-century textile mill complex in Graniteville, South Carolina. It is located just south of the older Graniteville Mill, and is bounded on the north by Marshall Street, the east by Canal Street, and the south by Hard Street. The complex includes a large brick mill building, and the Classical Revival Hickman Memorial Hall. The mill was built by Tracy Hickman, whose father had succeeded William Gregg at the helm of the Graniteville Mill. The hall was built in 1908 as a place to provide recreational and cultural opportunities to the mill workers.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Christian, Ralph J.; Adams, George R. (May 1977). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Graniteville Historic District" (pdf). National Park Service.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help) and Accompanying 12 photos, aerial and exteriors, from 1970, 1976, 1977  (32 KB)
  2. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  3. 1 2 "Graniteville Historic District". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved March 7, 2008.