Photograph of General Asbestos and Rubber Company Main Mill — Photograph by ProfReader, CC BY-SA 4.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

General Asbestos and Rubber Company (GARCO) Main Mill

Built in 1915. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2017.

From the record

“The General Asbestos and Rubber Company (GARCO) Main Mill is a historic industrial facility located in Park Circle in North Charleston, South Carolina. GARCO was a major regional employer, supplying products to the American space program, including the soles of the spacesuit boots used in the first Moon landing.”
Wikipedia article General Asbestos and Rubber Company Main Mill, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 227 National Register listings published here for Charleston County · listed in 2017 · category: Building · built in 1915.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. 0 O'Hear Ave., North Charleston, 29405
When was it listed? February 2017
Category. building
Census division. North Charleston
When was it built? 1915
National Register reference number. 100000687 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

Fires near this property

31 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 31 fires within 5 miles of General Asbestos and Rubber Company (GARCO) Main Mill between 1992 and 2017, burning about 209 acres in total. 1 started naturally. 4 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	11
Debris and open burning	10
Arson/incendiarism	4
Misuse of fire by a minor	3
Natural	1
Recreation and ceremony	1
Smoking	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
4 August 1999	Arson/incendiarism	under an acre	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
29 August 1998	Debris and open burning	under an acre	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
29 July 1998	Debris and open burning	under an acre	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
4 June 1999	Arson/incendiarism	5.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
20 June 2015	Natural	3.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
1 June 1996	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
1 June 1996	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named
18 May 1994	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	South Carolina Forestry Commission	not named

Every fire recorded in Charleston County

Mines and quarries near this property

3 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of General Asbestos and Rubber Company (GARCO) Main Mill: 1 unknown, 1 producer, 1 past producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Mt Pleasant Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer	Sedimentary
Ware Brothers Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Unknown	Sedimentary
Ware Brothers Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Charleston County

Storms near this property

46 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names North Charleston, the town this property stands in, in 46 storm reports between 1994 and 2006: 22 thunderstorm wind, 13 hail, 8 flash flood, 3 lightning. The reports record 3 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
August 2006	Flash Flood	North Charleston	3 hurt	Emergency Management reported a large concrete commercial building at Goer industries experienced a 40 X 40 foot section of collapsed roof. 3 people had minor injuries.
September 1998	Flash Flood	North Charleston	$413,500	no account filed
August 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	$80,000	Winds blew a 60-foot yacht off its stand and into a shed causing considerable damaga to the yacht.
September 1994	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	$50,000	At Parc Circle in North Charleston, trees down, bleachers damaged, fence mangled, and scoreboard destroyed. The damage was $25,000.
April 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	$10,000	Wind damaged observed at the Hess Terminal near the base of the Don Holt Bridge. Hess sign bent parallel to the ground. SC DOT portable lighted sign blown down. Rail crossing gate damaged.
August 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	$10,000	60 foot tall oak tree fell and crushed car and did damage to small shed at Midland Park on Stall Road. Numerous large trees down on buildings at midland park. Powerlines down on Stall Road.
August 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	$10,000	Numerous large trees down on Rivers Ave. Sign down on Dunlap Street. Pool furniture blown into pool at Summit Place Apartments. One trailer blown over.
July 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	$10,000	A 40x80 foot section of the roof at the ABF Freight System, Inc was blown off .
May 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	$5,000	Trees down on several homes in the Park Circle area.
August 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	$5,000	Large tree down in bank parking lot at intersection of Rivers and Ashley Phosphate. Street light pole down at Northwoods mall.
May 2006	Hail	North Charleston	-	Near intersection of Dunlap Street and Rivers Avenue.
May 2006	Hail	North Charleston	-	Ocurred at NWS office on South Aviation Ave.
May 2006	Hail	North Charleston	-	Penny hail near the Ashley Phosphate and Pepperidge areas.
May 2006	Hail	North Charleston	-	Large hail and a tree down on a house at Merrimac Street off 526.
August 2006	Flash Flood	North Charleston	-	Numerous cars stranded and flooded at the intersection of East Montague and Piedmont. Other heavy flooding at McMillan near the old navy base gate.
August 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	-	Large branches down on frontage road.
July 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	-	Power lines down near intersection of Highway 52 and Rivers Ave.
July 2005	Flash Flood	North Charleston	-	2 to 3 feet of water in parking lot and across roads in Northwoods Estates. Cars stalled in water.
August 2005	Lightning	North Charleston	-	Lightning struck a house and nearby light pole.
August 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	-	A severe thunderstorm produced estimated 70 to 80 mph wind gusts in the Forest Hills 2 subdivision. Numerous trees were snapped off, shingles were blown off around 25 homes, and wooden fences were damaged. One tree fell into a persons living room. One inch diameter hail also fell in Hanahan.
August 2005	Flash Flood	North Charleston	-	Heavy rainfall caused flooding across the Charleston metro area. Hawthorne trailer park on Rivers Avenue in North Charleston was completely flooded with some cars under water. Many roads were flooded in downtown Charleston which caused some cars to stall out. Several roads were also flooded in the Hanahan area.
May 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	-	Thunderstorm winds knocked down trees along Ashley Phosphate road.
July 2004	Hail	North Charleston	-	Penny size hail occurred at the intersection of Ashley Phosphate and Interstate 26.
September 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	-	Two trees were blown along the 52 Connector.
May 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	-	Several trees were blown down near the intersection of Ashley Phosphate and the Frontage Road.
July 2003	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	-	Thunderstorm winds blew down large limbs.
December 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	-	Several trees were down across Rutledge Ave near Hampton Park.
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	-	A large tree was blown down.
October 2002	Flash Flood	North Charleston	-	Very heavy rain across the area produced flooding in low lying places and areas with poor drainage. Some streets became impassable.
October 2002	Lightning	North Charleston	-	Lightning struck a McDonald's restaurant around 1 a.m., causing a fire that did extensive damage to the roof.
February 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	-	An unoccupied mobile home flipped over and was thrown against another mobile home. The unoccupied mobile home was not tied down very well. Approximately 50 other mobile homes had skirting damage or skirting torn away.
December 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	-	Limbs and power lines down.
September 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	-	Large limbs and power lines down.
June 1998	Lightning	North Charleston	-	Lightning struck a church.
July 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	-	Trees and powerlines down.
July 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	North Charleston	-	Powerlines down
May 1995	Hail	North Charleston	-	Large tree limbs down.
July 2004	Hail	North Charleston	-	no account filed
May 2003	Hail	North Charleston	-	no account filed
August 2000	Hail	North Charleston	-	no account filed
September 1999	Flash Flood	North Charleston	-	no account filed
April 1998	Hail	North Charleston	-	no account filed
May 1998	Hail	North Charleston	-	no account filed
May 1998	Hail	North Charleston	-	no account filed
June 1997	Flash Flood	North Charleston	-	no account filed
March 1996	Hail	North Charleston	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Charleston County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Charleston Navy Yard Officers' Quarters Historic District	1.0 miles	2007
Engineering-Management Building	1.3 miles	2020
Charleston Naval Hospital Historic District	1.3 miles	2010
Marine Barracks, Charleston Navy Yard	1.4 miles	2020
Charleston Navy Yard Historic District	1.6 miles	2006
Charleston Naval Hospital	1.7 miles	2021

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 100000687 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Charleston County	All 227 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.