West Branch Bridge, South Carolina Road S-569 spanning West Branch of Pacolet River, Pacolet

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER SC-35. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The State Road 569 bridge, built by the Pacolet Manufacturing Company, was an integral part of a designed landscape known as "Victor Park" created by Earle Sumner Draper. Draper is considered to be one of the first professionally trained landscape architects working in the South prior to World War I and the bridge possesses historical significance for its use by Draper as a component within the Victor Park design. Draper designed the park as part of a mill extension and beautification program for Pacolet Manufacturing Company between and His firm, one of the largest in the nation in the and was responsible for numerous landscape designs for mill towns across the Southeast as well as private estates and government towns.

Report Prepared by: Mary Beth Reed and Mark Swanson, New South Associates Date: January WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 2 PART 1. HISTORICAL INFORMATION A. CHRONOLOGY Walker, Fleming and Company purchase Trough Shoals property on Pacolet River, Spartanburg County, South Carolina. Property consisted of three waterfalls contained within a 1-mile long natural trough. Potential to drive spindles. Site recommended by Captain John H. Montgomery, member of the firm. Organization of the Pacolet Manufacturing Company with initial capital stock of Most of funding from parent firm, Walker, Fleming and Company. John H. Montgomery begins career as "mill magnate" with Pacolet Manufacturing and later becomes president of Spartan Mills. Construction of Mill No. 1 begins at Trough Shoals, May 16.

Amos Lockwood, mill engineer from Rhode Island, became a company director and the mill was built under his supervision. Mill goes into operation. Two hundred and fifty employed with a total village population of people. Pacolet Mill No. 2 under construction and railroad rights-of-way acquired. Mill No. 3 built School built on property across from mill on hill and Victor Inn built circa A bridge over West Branch was in place by this date. Victor M. Montgomery, son of John, acquires additional mill site at New Holland, White County, GA. New Holland mill considered Mill No. 4. Pacolet Mill's buildings, dam, bridge, and cotton destroyed by storm and flood on the Pacolet River on June 6.

A cyclone hit the firm's Georgia plant the same week causing a loss of 100 lives and mill housing at the New Holland Plant. Mill No. 5 at Pacolet completed. Built to replace Mills 1 and 2 lost in flood. Swing bridge used in interim WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 3 until new bridge in place at same location. West Branch bridge may have been built as part of the bridgework completed on the mill property at this time in response to flood of Earle Sumner Draper arrives in Charlotte to work as planner and landscape designer for the Stevens Company, developers of Meyers Park. Boston designer, John Nolen, designs neighborhood for Stevens; Draper hired to furnish landscape plans. Draper opens his own office in Charlotte.

First generation of mill housing demolished and 296 replacement homes built featuring smaller yards and different house types. Mill housing and mill buildings attributed to Greenville's J.E. Sirrene & Company. New school (Grades built, Pacolet Mills School or "Grand Old Lady" by J.E. Sirrene & Company. Amphitheater completed in "Mill extension" that included Victor Park and mill village landscape was designed by Earle S. Draper. The beautification of the mill grounds began circa and was complete by The West Branch Bridge is either constructed by Sirrene & Co. at this point, replacing an earlier bridge, or the existing bridge in is incorporated as an architectural element into Draper's mill extension plan.

Victor Montgomery starts new village for African-American workers, naming it Marysville in honor of Mary Brown Nuckles Landscaping complete, study bridge shown in company history written by Katherine Dozier titled Pacolet Manufacturing Company Trough Shoals changes name to Pacolet Mills. Pacolet Mills School property deeded to Spartanburg County School District 3. Mill No. 3 employed 550 employees using spindles WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 4 and plain looms. Mill No. 5 employed using spindles and plain looms. The bridge becomes part of the state's secondary road system in the Pacolet Manufacturing discontinues operations and mill buildings used by Pacolet Yarns. Company houses sold to employees; houses in Victor Park were leveled and removed.

Flat slab and creosote timber bridge constructed over West Branch in Victor Park. New bridge partially overlays historic bridge. Pacolet Manufacturing Co. merges with other firms to form Pacolet Industries, Inc. Pacolet Industries merges with Deering-Milliken Inc. in Pacolet School's last year of operation. Destroyed by fire. Milliken & Co. ceases weaving operations and the Pacolet Mill closed its doors. Mills were dismantled in and Company office building becomes town hall. B. Introduction Pacolet Manufacturing Company, a textile mill, built the unnamed bridge recorded for this project over West Branch, a tributary of the Pacolet River, in Pacolet Mills, Spartanburg County, South Carolina, ca. on the mill property.

Prior to the historic concrete slab bridge with granite abutments acted as both a pedestrian and vehicular bridge within the textile mill community linking the housing areas including the "Bosses Row" or "Victor Park" to the school property. The age, engineer, and fabricator of the bridge are unknown. Research suggests that a bridge was located at this site from onward. However, a major flood in that destroyed the main bridge and dam on the Pacolet River within the village may have impacted the small bridge, causing it to be rebuilt. The bridge and the road it was part of became part of the state's secondary road system in the In it was converted to a pedestrian bridge when a vehicular two-lane bridge was built by the South Carolina Department of Transportation to replace it.

WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 5 The South Carolina Department of Transportation bridge partially overlies the historic bridge. The West Branch bridge is neither notable for its engineering or its date. It does possess significance for its role within the landscape design created for Pacolet Mills by Earle Sumner Draper. Between and the Pacolet Manufacturing mill community was refashioned into a "progressive" mill village with new housing and community buildings that were set in a formally planned landscape that reflected the principles of modern city planning applied to a Southern industrial context. The housing and mill improvements are attributed to J.E.

Sirrene and Company of Greenville, South Carolina and Earle Sumner Draper, considered to be one of the South's preeminent landscape designers completed the landscape design. The overview that follows gives a brief history of the Pacolet Manufacturing Company and its twentieth-century transformation shaped by Sirrene and Company and Draper. C. Historical Context Although textile mills were present in South Carolina in the antebellum period, they exploded in number in the and the state's Piedmont region developed into a major cotton- manufacturing belt between and Large, integrated mills owned, operated, and directed by men of influence became synonymous with South Carolina's upcountry economy and the new markets reached were national and international in scope.

The mills and their manufacturers changed the state's physical and cultural landscape. Historian David L. Carlton provides statistics that attest to the enormity of that change between and 1 In the state had fourteen firms, with a total labor force of operatives and an average spindleage of less than The targeted markets were local. By 147 firms were manufacturing yarn and cloth in South Carolina, individuals labored in the mills, and the average mill typically had more than spindles. Pacolet Manufacturing Company of Spartanburg County was in the vanguard of this transformation. 1David L. Carlton, Mill and Town in South Carolina (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No.

Page 6 Pacolet Manufacturing, Creditors in were warned to err on the side of caution when it came to Joseph Walker, characterized as "a bold trader in cotton." Walker, who had begun his career as a clerk for a wealthy Spartanburg, South Carolina merchant, John B. Cleveland, entered into a partnership with his former employer in and then established his own firm three years later. Short on capital but long on business aplomb and energy, Walker's fledgling firm grew. He entered into a partnership with C.E. Fleming, a physician and druggist, in The Walker/Fleming partnership was expanded four years later when John A. Montgomery signed on.

Montgomery, a farmer and merchant from Hobbysville in rural Spartanburg County, had arrived in the county seat to launch a shop as the southern agent for a northern fertilizer manufacturer. Journalist Edward McKissick referred to Montgomery as "the pioneer fertilizer dealer of this section of the State in 2 With the addition of Montgomery, the firm became "Walker, Fleming and Company" and, as Carleton states, "It was a rare enterprise in Spartanburg that lacked Walker, Fleming money and influence. " 3 Walker, Fleming and Company acquired the site for Pacolet Mills in on the recommendation of John H. Montgomery. 4 Referred to as the "Trough Shoals property" and owned by Nathan R.

Littlejohn, the future mill site, purchased for from Littlejohn, contained three waterfalls set within a mile-long trough along the Pacolet River, a tributary of the Broad River, which drains the northeast half of Spartanburg County. 5 The Pacolet's headwater is in the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge in both North and South Carolina. Early estimates suggested that the shoals had the energy potential to drive one hundred thousand spindles. Pacolet Manufacturing Company was organized with an initial stock capital of Walker, Fleming and Company supplied much of the initial capital. John A. Montgomery became the president of the new company, and his 2 Edward P.

McKissick " The Story of Spartan Push," News and Courier, Charleston, July 28, 3 Carlton, Mill and Town in South Carolina 4 Katherine Dozier, The Pictured Story of the Community Activities Pacolet Manufacturing Company Spartanburg, South Carolina (Spartanburg, Pacolet Manufacturing Company, Foreward. 5 Ruth Watson, Pacolet Mills: A Village Called Trough 10. Watson has completed the most primary research on the mill property, water rights, and railroad right-of-way rights. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 7 career as a mill magnate was launched. The company's directors were all South Carolinians at the outset but by northern capitalists owned about one-third of its stock.

Carleton notes that northern investors that entered into southern cotton manufacturing ventures were not manufacturers in their own right. Some were associated with the textile business as distributors; others were engineers designing or manufacturing mills and mill equipment. Both groups had a lot to gain by joining financial forces with southern textile manufacturers. For Pacolet Manufacturing, the New York-based Deering, Milliken and Company under the leadership of Seth M. Milliken, and mill engineers, Amos Lockwood and Stephen Greene, also northeasterners, were key players in the Spartanburg County operation: Milliken's entry into South Carolina came through John H.

Montgomery, who had been referred to the merchant by his fertilizer supplier; at about the same time, Montgomery's partner C. E. Fleming was meeting Lockwood and Greene. The alliance between the Milliken-Lockwood-Greene interests and the Montgomery-Walker, Fleming group began with the Pacolet mill and continued with operations at Spartanburg and elsewhere: in one case, that of the Spartan Mills, the northern group physically moved a Massachusetts factory to the up-country town. By Deering, Milliken sold cloth for thirteen mills, most of which had some connection with Spartanburg interests. 6 From the outset, Pacolet Manufacturing was considered one of six "model factory towns" within the state, representing a model of industrial life in a Southern context.

Practicing "mill philanthropy," mill owners regulated community life in the company towns, "protecting" the operatives from the potential evils of industrial life and creating a community structure that helped protect the larger community. These model towns included schools, healthcare facilities, churches, and other community amenities provided by the mill company as well as individuals responsible for the mill community's security and safety. The presidents of these firms, thought to be the industrial leaders of the state, were known as the "big four" and John H. Montgomery, was a member of this exclusive group. 7 6 Carlton, Mill and Town in South Carolina 7 Ibid. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 8 Construction began on Pacolet Mill No.

1 on May 16, under the direction of Amos Lockwood, a Pacolet Mill director and mill engineer. When finished, the industrial components of the mill complex were located on the "Flat" by the river's south bank while the mill housing was placed on both river banks. A covered bridge allowed workers to negotiate between the mill village neighborhoods and the mill itself. Community buildings, a church, a company store, city hall, and boarding houses were also located on the Flat as well as a spur that lead from the mill to Pacolet Station. 8 The mill architecture was massive. Mill No.

1 rose to three stories and measured roughly 70' by In it, mill operations were segregated by floor; the first floor was used for weaving and it held the heavy looms, the second for carding and the third was reserved for spinning. Mill No. 2 was completed in It was architecturally an addition but was considered a distinct factory. It added over to the length of Mill No. 1 and it had four stories. Waterpower drove the mill's spindles and 800 looms; four waterwheels were in place that gave a collective yield of 1200-horse power. In addition, the complex included a picker building and three warehouses (two of stone and the third of corrugated iron). The capacity of the warehouses was approximately bales of cotton.

The mill workers were housed in frame dwellings that featured saltbox rooflines and white washed exterior walls. Watson states that there were 62 rent-free cottages built to house the initial work force. 9 The choice of the saltbox house type, commonly associated with New England, speaks to the architectural input of Lockwood, a Rhode Islander. The mill community in known locally as Trough Shoals, had a population of individuals, about 250 of whom worked at the mill. The McCullough Map of Spartanburg County shows Mill No. 1 on the west bank of the river, an unnamed road that connects Pacolet Depot and the mill and small surrounding village. In the mill superintendent was Capt. M. G. Stone, also a Rhode Island native. Other company executives were: J. Y. Goodlett, bookkeeper and cashier; B.

Coke Jennings, cotton buyer and shipping clerk; Victor M. Montgomery, outside 8 Watson, Pacolet Mills: A Village Called Trough, 9 Ibid., WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 9 overseer; J. L. Hicks, overseer of spinning room; and J. A. Young, overseer of the weaving department. Between and the Montgomery enterprise was steadily enlarged. Charleston's News and Courier noted in that the mill was to double its capacity and capital as soon as a successful start had been made.rn Successful it was. The daily output in was yards of sheetings and brown drills with ten thousand bales of cotton consumed annually. 11 Mill No. 3, a five-story plant at Pacolet, was added in to the overall mill property that had become a leading force in the county's manufacturing sector.

An additional 45 houses or tenements were added to the mill housing, bringing the mill total to 107 houses or tenements. 12 In the company further expanded into Georgia when Victor M. Montgomery, John H. Montgomery's son and heir, acquired the New Holland mill site near present day Gainsville. The New Holland factory referred to as Mill No. 4 was completed in with a 50,000-spindle capaci ty 13 Three events dramatically changed the company between and First during an inspection of the New Holland Mill in October Captain John A. Montgomery fell from a scaffold and lost his life. His son, Victor A. Montgomery, succeeded his father as President and Treasurer of Pacolet Manufacturing in Eight months later, the company's financial success story changed when Mills No.

1 and 2 at Pacolet were destroyed in a massive flood of the Pacolet River in June The Spartanburg Journal carried a description of the damage: The worst damage so far reported was at Pacolet Mills. The water there had been rising for several days but the heavy downpour last night caused to be emptied into the river and its tributaries great volumes of water which rushed madly down stream, on their mission of destruction. The big three-story mill, No. 1 at Pacolet went down about nine o'clock this morning with an awful crash. Then the crowds 10 News and Courier, Charleston, February 24, As quoted in Broadus Mitchell, The Rise of Cotton Mills in the South (Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, 11 Edward P. Mc Kissick" The Story of Spartan Push," News and Courier, Charleston, July 28, 12 Ibid.

13 Pacolet Area Centennial Cammi t tee, The History of Pacolet, (Pacolet, S. c. : Pacolet Area Centennial Committee, not paginated. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 10 of people from the spot and lining the high cliffs which overlook the mills, turned their attention to the large four-story mill No. 2, which stands adjoining No. 1 and which was even then half submerged in the angry waters. The crowd watched for an hour as the fate of the big mill hung in the balance, and then No. 2 went down with an awful, deafening crash and roar and within the short space of one hour or perhaps two hours, a million dollars worth of property had been engulfed in the raging waters of the Pacolet. 14 Later in the afternoon, Mill No. 3 also sustained significant damage, loosing part of its upper story.

While the mill village was largely untouched, the long covered bridge over the Pacolet, the community church, a cotton warehouse, post office and other buildings were also destroyed. There was only one fatality associated with the flood at Pacolet. Other mill communities were not that fortunate. Clifton, north of Pacolet, suffered heavy losses of life. The third tragedy affecting the mill company occurred almost immediately after the South Carolina disaster. In an uncanny twist of fate, a tornado hit Pacolet's Gainsville, Georgia, plant the same week of the flood. One hundred lives were lost, approximately 100 homes were demolished, and the mill and equipment were damaged. 15 Victor Montgomery was faced with a number of challenges a mere two weeks after assuming his father's position.

16 Foremost, the Pacolet employees needed work and many found employment in other area mills. This occurred at the request of the new president who asked his regional mill colleagues to provide work for Pacolet employees for the short term. Shortly after the flood, plans were announced that Mill No. 3 was to be rebuilt. And Montgomery issued a statement on their future plans, ending stoically, "While our loss is great in a financial way, I thank God that the loss of life is nothing like it was at Gainesville or at Clifton. We are face-to-face with a stern reality but we will meet it without delay or bitter complaint.

" 17 14 " 3 Pacolets Gone," The Spartanburg Journal, June 6, As quoted in Pacolet Area Centennial Committee, The History of Pacolet, (Pacolet, Pacolet Area Centennial Committee, not paginated. 15 Pacolet Area Centennial Committee, The History of Pacolet, not paginated. 16 Dozier, The Pictured Story of the Community Activities Pacolet Manufacturing Company, Spartanburg, South Carolina, pp. 17 Pacolet Area Centennial Committee, The History of Pacolet, not paginated. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 11 Montgomery sought financial help to rebuild the mill operation from the firm's long-time business associate, Seth M. Milliken. Milliken, a New Yorker and senior member of the firm of Deering- Milliken and Company, helped to underwrite the rebuilding of the South Carolina (Mill No.

3) and Georgia (Mill No. 4) mill properties. Deering-Milliken had handled the output of Pacolet's mills from the firm's inception. They were back in operation in and in the construction of Mill No. 5, the replacement plant for the mills lost in the flood, began. Mill No. 5 went into operation in 18 The Progressive Context Pacolet Manufacturing's physical losses after the incidents were considerable. The rebuilding process did not occur in a vacuum. Other challenges not related to bricks and mortar were also on the horizon. Between and some South Carolinians began to examine the social consequences of industrial mill life. Historian David L.

Carleton cites turn of the century sources that expressed concern for the physical well-being of the operatives who worked long hours standing in the mills in an unventilated environment. Social, intellectual, and moral concerns were also raised and child labor reform was in the offing. Carleton points out that the real driver behind these concerns, voiced by many across the state, was the recognition that the number of mills had grown enormously and concomitant with that growth was a greatly expanded mill population. Forces and circumstances that made many middle- class citizens uncomfortable were shaping a new generation of South Carolinians.

19 Pacolet like other mills did not employ African American operatives; African Americans were typically hired as laborers for work outside the mill. While slave labor was used prior to the Civil War, textile labor was socially defined in the postwar period as "white" work and manufacturers "sought to attract a 'better class' of native whites to tend their machinery. Three groups comprised the state's mill population. 21 Small farmers and sharecroppers eager for job opportunities that would allow them to change their economic status were the first. 18 Dozier, The Pictured Story of the Community Activities Pacolet Manufacturing Company, Spartanburg, South Carolina, Foreward. 19 Carlton, Mill and Town in South Carolina 20 Ibid., 21 Ibid., pp WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No.

Page 12 "Sandhillers," also referred to as "poor white trash," composed the second group. Characterized as lazy and apathetic, many of the sandhillers had no regard for advancement. The third source of mill labor came from the hills of North and South Carolina. Mountain families were recruited by the mill management to stem the labor shortage the mills were experiencing. Agents of the mills visited the backcountry, trying to entice workers down into South Carolina's textile manufacturing belt. These disparate groups were melded into a mill community that was hardly a unified front but the new communities did change demographics and had the potential to become a political and social force.

Many of the mill towns were placed within or adjacent to established communities or as town growth occurred across the piedmont, mills once isolated geographically, became less so. In either scenario, the mill personnel were not always welcomed with the larger context and antipathy between the two milieus, mill and town, developed. According to Carleton, each group within the mill population suffered from a negative identity in the general public's mind. The mill operative that came from the yeomanry was an admitted failure at farming by virtue of his election to become an operative and once trained as a operative, would be spoiled for future agricultural tasks. Social commentary on the character of the sandhiller was extremely negative.

In fact, one mill critic questioned how they were motivated to get to the mills at all. The mountaineers were perceived as lawless and imbued with a strong sense of anarchic individualism, qualities that threatened the social order. In addition to these problematic profiles, about 25 percent of the state's overall mill population was itinerant. Individuals on the move were definite threats to the social order both at the mill community level and within the larger community context. The "mill problem" also brought about opportunities for some.

"If the operatives posed a major threat to South Carolina's "civilization," nonetheless their very situation presented a golden opportunity to the "civilizing" agencies of the town." 22 Between and World War I, child labor reform and compulsory school attendance would be established and an era of Progressive reform launched. As Carleton notes, the Progressive movement in South Carolina was shaped by the division between town and mill 22 Ibid. , p. 16 8 . WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 13 as middle-class progressives sought to "uplift" their mill brethren. 23 The mill owners found themselves in a dialogue in which they were always on the defense and the operatives, many unhappily, found themselves to be the subjects of the "civilizing" groups.

Moreover, the operatives, the subjects of these reformers, found themselves on the sidelines within the developing debate, without a voice or champion. In a bill was passed in the General Assembly that limited child labor in South Carolina's factories; no child under ten could be employed. By the age rose to twelve. Viewed by the middle class reformers as a victory, the passing of such legislation was not welcomed by working class whites especially textile operatives who viewed this as governmental interference with decisions best left to the family. In Coleman Livingston Elease became governor. His platform, based on no more government regulation, was heartily welcomed by the state's operatives who voted him into office. Between and Elease governed the state.

Historian Walter Edgar states that "for middle-class townspeople, those who cherished social order, the Elease years were their worst nightmare come to life. " 24 Elease was pro-lynching, supported mob behavior, was renowned for allowing pardons (he set free more than during his term), and allowed disturbances to occur when townspeople were the target of the behavior. Elease, a forthright speaker known for his crude language, would veto any legislation that challenged a parent's right to rear their children. In this regard, he was the champion needed by working class whites to withstand the programs of "uplift" that targeted them.

Carleton shows voting percentages for Bleasite candidates grouping the mill vote versus the town vote for Spartanburg County between and In each year, the mill clubs, including Pacolet Mills, came out strongly as pro-Bleasite while town voters had far fewer interested in fostering Blease's platform. In percent of the classified mill club voters voted for a Bleasite candidate while percent of the townspeople in towns with populations voted for the same candidates. By Bleasite candidates received about percent of the mill votes while only percent of the town voters were like-minded. 23Ibid., 24Walter Edgar, South Carolina A History, (Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 14 Richard I.

Manning, a proponent of progressive reform, succeeded Elease as governor and under his leadership and with the cooperation of both houses of the General Assembly, the progressive movement in the state truly got under way. Manning's leadership gave way to major legislative acts that resulted in tax reform, educational reform, social services, road improvements, and others. Edgar notes that Manning showed all members of South Carolina public how a strong state government could act to their benefit and affirmed that progressive policies could be inclusive at least throughout the white communities. Progressive Mill and Town, It is notable that Carleton's landmark study of South Carolina mills contains limited data on the Pacolet operation during the Progressive Era.

His data is mostly confined to education within the mill town and the community's voting record. One of the reasons for this lack of information has to do with geography. The Montgomery-Milliken operation was geographically distinct from Spartanburg; the mill community was located approximately 12 miles southeast of the county seat. Carleton refers to Pacolet as a "country" mill, and suggests that the more isolated mill communities such as Pacolet remained under the control of the mill officials who were expected to provide leadership. This may have been the case at Pacolet where leadership was strongly needed given the disasters of Pacolet Manufacturing's nineteenth-century success had been brought to a halt by the flood.

The death of its founder, John Montgomery, a member of the "big four" and a vocal proponent of mill paternalism, was also a concern. In a short frame of time, Victor Montgomery, John's son and successor, faced the financial challenge of rebuilding the mills; re-establishing them, once rebuilt, as productive components within the textile market; and managing the mill, which was in reality, both a town and a mill. Victor Montgomery and his staff managed to do all this even as the "mill problem" and the solutions legislated by the state unfolded. With financial backing supplied by Milliken, the rebuilding process of the mills was finally complete by Other factors that may contribute to the lack of data on early twentieth-century mill life at Pacolet are a different WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No.

Page 15 management style between father and son and the new presence of a hostile middle-class and media. John Montgomery was vocal and his words peppered contemporary news articles in defense of mills and mill villages when mill building was viewed in a positive light. Victor Montgomery was either naturally reticent or was wary of how and where his words would be reported during the era of the "mill problem." Either way, there is little textual documentation from Victor Montgomery's tenure that illuminates how he as a president and his company perceived and responded to the challenges of the progressive era.

A recruiting circular, printed after to entice North Carolinians to labor at Pacolet, is the best source available from the early Victor Montgomery era on company policy and on what the new labor force could expect from a mill job. WANTED 500 Operatives to Work in a Cotton Mill The Pacolet Manufacturing Company, of Pacolet, can furnish steady employment for over 300 days in the year for boys and girls over 12 years old, men and women at average wages, as follows: Experienced 12 to 16-year-old boys and girls from 50c to Experienced boys and girls over 16, and men and women, 75c to Old men, 60 to 70 years old, 75c to $1. Beginners make enough for a good living, and as they become experienced enough to draw regular wages.

Some beginners have come here and, after three days, were making $1 a day. We furnish you good, comfortable houses at 50c a room per month. We furnish you wood, coal, and provisions laid at your door for market prices. Pacolet Mills houses are located on a hill and the place is noted for its health and free from all malarial diseases. Only a short distance from the North Carolina mountains. We have good water, a splendid system of free schools, churches of different denominations; in fact everything that appeals to one who wishes to improve the condition of his family. Our mill is heated with steam and is warm and comfortable in the winter. We make coarse cloth, and can have our windows open in the summer to give nice cool air through the mill.

If you are a poor man there is no better location for you to select than Pacolet. It behooves every man to either educate his children or place them in position to learn good trades. If WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 16 you are only able to give your son or daughter a common school education, and they then teach school, they can make thirty-five dollars per month for four months of the year. If he or she should learn to be a good weaver, $40 per month for the year round would be their wages, and have a good, comfortable room, and no exposure in the rain, snow or cold. We will advance you on your transportation and i f you remain with us six months the same will be given to you. We want families with at least three workers for the mill in each family.

I you are interested write us and tell us how many you have in ami1y; how many whole tickets and how many ha1 tickets you want, where you will take the train and name 0 your depot agent and on what date you will start, giving us plenty time to send your depot agent transportation or you. 25 While a description of competitive wages, comfortable housing, educational opportunities, church availability, healthy workplaces and an overall healthy mill environment were described, the circular's tone is more paternalistic than progressive. "Improving one's condition" and the positive good of educating children or having them learn a trade was followed by estimates of how much money could be had by a family with the needed number of potential mill workers.

Over a decade later, the essentials of the company philosophy remained the same but its tone and presentation had changed significantly. Progressive concepts having to do with wholesome recreation, sanitary environment and "home-making" had made noticeable inroads: The policy of the Montgomerys, father and son, has been, and is, to give all employees comfortable homes, sanitary environment, good schools and churches, wholesome recreation, an opportunity to earn and save; in short, the best and happiest conditions procurable for wage-earning and home-making. The business value of such a policy is sound beyond question, as proved by regular and unfailing dividends on the investment.

26 25 August Kohn, The Cotton Mills of South Carolina (Charleston, Daggett Printing Company, As quoted in Ruth Watson, Pacolet Mills: A Village Called Trough, 26 Katherine Dozier, The Pictured Story of the Community Activities Pacolet Manufacturing Company, Spartanburg, South Carolina, Foreward. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 17 The firm sought to depict community life and the positives of mill life in when it distributed a booklet titled: The Pictured Story of the Corrununity Activities Pacolet Manufacturing Company Spartanburg, South Carolina Written by Katherine Dozier, "director of Educational Work" at the mill, the booklet's aim was to tell a success story. Ms.

Dozier, in her forward, pointed out that Pacolet Manufacturing had been a training ground for mill executives that had found employment at other firms, and that school superintendents, teachers, preachers, merchants, farmers, doctors, clerical workers that had risen from the community's ranks. Notable among Pacolet's contribution to good citizenship are the owners of small farms in the Piedmont belt of South Carolina and Georgia. Formerly tenants, these men moved to the mill villages, earned for the first time more than the bare necessities of life, saved the surplus, and in time bought for themselves land they had once tilled as tenants. Cases of this kind could be cited by scores.

Another contribution to good citizenship is the wiping out of illiteracy by the night schools and the further opportunity provided by the continuation classes. The health work done under the direction of skilled doctors and trained nurses has given to the villages standards of hygienic living unsurpassed anywhere. The percentage of boys and girls graduating from high school and entering college is slightly above the average for both States in which Pacolet's plants are located. 27 Dozier's history is promotional. It shows boys and girls "before" and "after" becoming part of the mill community. In each profile, the subject is shown in better health, better dressed and better educated to become better citizens for South Carolina.

The nursery and day care facilities are depicted, as are the schools, parks, playing fields, marching bands, and clubs. The mill and town as represented by Pacolet Manufacturing was presented as a healthy environment, a model of small town America, albeit one organized and owned by a textile mill company. The social changes that Dozier described in the booklet were reflected in the new mill landscape that was developed in the Plats of the mill property show that construction on the main mill buildings continued in Lockwood, Green & 27 Ibid. , Foreward. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 18 Co., Architects and Engineers based in Boston were the architects of a new office building, store and an addition to one of the mill's warehouse.

28 Associated Factory Mutual Fire Insurance maps establish that the mill buildings proper were targeted for further expansion prior to World War I 29 Attention turned after the war however to the mill village itself and the mill housing. A campaign to beautify the nineteenth-century mill village and its surrounds commenced in which "progressive" principles became embedded in the mill landscape. Such campaigns, known as "mill developments" or "mill improvements," became not only fashionable for progressive companies to undertake but economically necessary in order to maintain their labor forces and attract new hires to the textile communities.

From sanitation improvements to the addition of parks, mill owners sought to re-cast the industrial environment in which mill community life took place. In the Victor Montgomery proved he was very much in step with his fellow textile mill owners in their desire to "consider proper village development and maintenance equal in importance to keeping up the mill machinery. " 30 Garden City Principles and the Progressive Mill Village Pacolet Mill's South Carolina's mill village, its layout and landscaping, changed dramatically after World War I.

Between and the Pacolet Manufacturing mill community was refashioned into a "progressive" mill village with new housing and community buildings that were set in a formally planned landscape that reflected the principles of modern city planning, particularly the garden city movement. Joseph E. Sirrene and 28 Pacolet Manufacturing Company, "Sketch Showing Levels for New Store and Office Building, Pacolet Manufacturing Company, Pacolet, June 22, Lockwood Greene Collection, File No. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian, Washington,D.C ..

Also from same collection, " Plat of Part of Property Showing Location of New Office Building, Store and Addition to Warehouse, Pacolet Manufacturing Company, Pacolet, May 8, 29 Associated Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Map, "Tenements Pacolet Manufacturing Company, "Mills No's 3 & 5, Pacolet, "(Boston, M.A. :Associated Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Companies, Index no. Serial no. Also, "Mill No. 3", same series and date, Index no. Serial No. And Mills Nos. 3 & 5", same series and date, Index no. Serial no. 30 E.S. Draper, "Mill Village Developments Progressive Southern Mills Consider Village Maintenance as Important as Mill Upkeep", Textile World, February 9, WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No.

Page 19 Company of Greenville, South Carolina completed the housing and mill improvements while Earle Sumner Draper, a landscape designer, is credited with the landscape design. Both men and their firms, working in tandem and individually, would be responsible for changing the face of scores of mill villages. Sirrene, a native of Americus, Georgia, moved with his family to Greenville in at the age of four. He spent his childhood in Greenville where his father, George W. Sirrene, worked as a wagon and buggy manufacturer with the Greenville firm, the Gower and Cox Carriage Factory. While the Sirrene family was famous for their leadership, Joseph Emory Sirrene is considered to have been the most influential.

He graduated from Furman University in with his degree in engineering and by was employed by Lockwood Greene and Company as the resident engineer during the construction of Poe Mill. 31 Over the next seven years, he worked for the Boston firm, making contacts as their Southern representative. Sirrene set out on his own in under the business style of J.E. Sirrene and Company. Extremely successful, the firm achieved particular renown in the field of textile mill engineering. This renown was acknowledged when the Greenville-based firm designed and built the permanent exhibition hall for the Southern Textile Exposition hosted annually by Greenville.

The Textile Hall was completed in 32 As an engineer with Lockwood Greene and Company and in his role as a member of the Southern Textile Exposition, it is likely that Sirrene met Victor Montgomery. Between and J.E. Sirrene and Company was hired by Pacolet Manufacturing to tear down the original housing and build replacement structures. It appears that the firm was also responsible for the construction of a new school and other community buildings. Earle Sumner Draper is considered to be the first professionally trained planner in the Southeast. 33 After receiving a in 31 Archie Vernon Huff, Greenville The History of the City and County in the South Carolina Piedmont (Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, pp. 32 Ibid, 33 Earle Sumner Draper, Sr. Papers (No.

Department of Manuscripts and University Archives, Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, New York. The finding aid for this collection contains biographical information on Draper and the range of projects that he was involved with over his career. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 20 landscape architecture from Massachusetts State College (now the University of Massachusetts) in 1915,he joined the firm of John Nolen, city planner, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

34 Nolen sent Draper southward to Charlotte in to design lots within the Meyers Park neighborhood, designed by Nolen and on its way to becoming Charlotte's "most fashionable streetcar suburb." 35 Draper and Charlotte were a good fit as the Northerner quickly established his own firm in in Charlotte that employed more than a dozen professionals. 36 His firm was the first or one of the first resident firms of a professionally trained landscape architect in the Southeast. 37 Draper's writings indicate that a movement began in the South after World War I in which textile mill owners initiated programs of improvements that upgraded housing and utilities, and that added parks and recreation areas "that reflect beauty and character.

" 38 The village improvement work in the South is in its infancy. The mill owners have seen results from this type of expenditure. The freedom from labor troubles gives the best endorsement possible to improvements for betterment of the living conditions of the mill operatives of the South. Both tangible and intangible results of improving living conditions follows; intangible in giving the operatives and their families increased happiness, greater enjoyment and a wider view of life, but tangible in promoting efficiency in turning out the products of the mills.

39 Mill improvements would prove lucrative for Draper's firm, possibly forming the core of its business between its inception and In alone, the following North Carolina mills completed major improvements that benefited from his design 34 Ibid. 35 Dr. Dan L. Morrill, "The Earle Sumner Draper House", Queens Rd. 36 "Charlotte Voices A Special Collections Exhibit," J. Murrey Atkins Library, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 37 Dr. William H. Huffman. "The Earle Sumner Draper House", Charlotte- Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission Survey and Research Reports, 38 E.S. Draper, "Mill Village Improvements: Progressive Southern Mills Consider Village Maintenance as Important as Mill Upkeep," Textile World, February 9, 39 Ibid.

The list of Draper projects was included in the Textile World article published in WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 21 work: Erlanger Mills, Lexington; Cabarrus Mills, Concord; Carolina Cotton and Woolen Mills, Spray; Fairfax Mills, Lanett Mills and Tanner Mills, Spindle. West Point Manufacturing, West Point also employed Draper's firm in In addition, some mills chose to adopt beautification programs for the overall grounds and the inclusion of parks. These included in South Carolina: Abbeville Cotton Mills, Abbeville; Whitney Manufacturing Company, Whitney; and The Southern Bleachery Company, Greenville. In Georgia, Draper worked with the West Point Mills, West Point; Anchor Duck Mills, Duck; and Dunson Mills in La Grange.

Riverside and Dan River, in Danville, V.A and North Carolina's Cannon Mills, in Kannapolis and Wiscasset Mills and Efird Manufacturing in Albemarle also benefited from his work. Draper presented his work to the professional community, publishing an article on how garden city precepts should and were being applied to the planning of Southern textile towns. In Draper's opinion, laying out a mill village was very similar to platting out lots or any other subdivision development. Gently sloping topography, adequate to take care of drainage and gravity water supply, is an advantage over either flat or mountainous situations. A certain percentage of wooded area is also very important in the South.

It is quite important that the streets and the pathways be laid out to give direct and adequate circulation to and from the mill village center, and to the adjoining town or city. Practically all the workers return to their homes for the noonday meal, and the majority of them walk, except in the larger textile communities where houses may be located at some distance from the mill, so the matter of circulation is an important feature. That brings us to the third and very essential--that is, the location of the buildings. The homes of the workers are usually of the bungalow type, from three to six rooms in size. A general store of some size is usually built, with the second floor devoted to lodge hall and necessary offices.

The villages must have their own churches, even when they are close to a city or town, and as the Methodists and Baptists are usually present in about equal numbers, and greatly outnumber other denominations, two churches of this type are usually to be found in every village of over one hundred houses. Of late years the mill management has realized the value of education, and the schools to be found in the textile WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 22 communities are quite equal--and sometimes superior--to the schools in town. A hotel or boarding house or both, should be located close to the village center. A community building of some sort, ranging from a bungalow to a very elaborate building, is usually provided for each village.

The idea of group garages, housing about one car for every two or three houses, has been pretty generally adopted, to do away with unsightly sheds and shacks which would otherwise be erected in the yards. Almost invariably open spaces devoted to and equipped for playground purposes, with the inevitable baseball diamond for the older boys, are to be found in each village. 40 Draper also noted that most progressive mill towns were electrified by the This was made easy by accessing the mill's power production and that poles were erected along rear lot lines, leaving the area between street and sidewalk open for tree planting. He suggested that residential streets should be about 18' wide with 5' sidewalks and a 5' tree-planting strip. And the sidewalk, curb, and gutter should be concrete.

Draper also preferred to use the streets as drainages when the neighborhood was properly sewered and the streets sufficiently improved to handle this use. This was a departure from decades earlier when the presence of privies at the rear lots higher than the homes made street drainage a problem. The new planners favored the bungalow as a mill housing type. The typical six-room bungalow contained a hallway, kitchen, dining room or alcove, living room, bathroom and bedrooms. The four-room house abbreviated the living space to a living room, kitchen, and two bedrooms. According to Draper, two story buildings were not in favor as many of the operatives were used to one story vernacular dwellings and preferred no stairs. They also preferred single housing to multi family housing.

Lot sizes changed dramatically during this era of improvement. Usually x in size, lot size was a product of inexpensive land prices prevalent when the mill properties were first developed. Operatives, many from rural upbringings, used the large lots to their advantage for garden plots or kitchen gardens, providing a rural feel to the industrial village setting. Generous-sized lots disappeared as twentieth-century 40 E.S. Draper, "Southern Textile Village Planning," Landscape Architecture, Vol. XVIII, October No. 1., WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 23 mill owners were advised of potential costs incurred by expansions that necessitated the acquisition of new property.

Rather than acquire more real estate, many mill owners sought to use the real estate in hand but reconfigure space within it. Draper, a consummate salesman, pointed out that if street improvements in existing mill villages were under consideration, the budget minded mill owner should also consider grading of house sites simultaneously. The costs of doing so were considerably less than the costs involved with extending village property and providing further improvement. Many mill owners opted to redevelop their landlots, cutting lot size and allowing 65' to 75' frontage and a to depth. Fire insurance premiums were also a factor. If the houses were built less than 30' apart, the premiums would rise as this presented a fire risk.

Once the lot size was chosen, block size and street layout were completed given the topography at hand. Draper's ideal plan shows that the automobile had made inroads; community or block garages were provided in blocks where block depths allowed or in areas not suitable for housing. Floor plans in houses would be reversed so that kitchen and service areas faced a common driveway thus eliminating the need and cost of two driveways. Spatial provisions were still made for cows, which were still very much a part of the mill landscape as late as Communal cow barns were preferred. Draper notes in his article that fences were no longer needed to contain livestock and hedges could be used instead to demarcate lot lines.

Areas within the mill property that did not lend themselves to housing would be designated as parks and landscaped accordingly for the community benefit. Pacolet's Transformation While the Sirrene Company was established as an architectural and engineering firm since Draper had only set out on his own in There are no firm dates for when the village improvement began at Pacolet but the school was constructed in and it is likely that building replacements, bridges, street improvements and landscaping occurred either concurrently or shortly after. Draper's article in Landscape Architecture contains photographs of his work at Pacolet so the improvements were probably complete by that date. Unfortunately, Pacolet is not described in the text suggesting WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No.

Page 24 that Draper may have considered the project to be either minor or less than successful. Draper does credit his firm with all "village design and landscape work" and J.E. Sirrine & Co. is credited with the design of the mills and millhouses at Pacolet as well as at Sayles-Biltmore, NC, and Chicopee, GA. 41 No map or plan of either Sirrene or Draper's design work was located nor has a map or plan showing the village prior to their input been identified. Ruth Watson, a third generation mill inhabitant, provides the best description of the town prior to the improvement: When the Lancasters [Watson's grandmother] arrived a few years later [after they saw sixty-two neat, white- washed cottages of the New England "saltbox" type.

The bare hills above the banks of the river were dotted by rows and rows of these homes. A long covered bridge over the Pacolet River connected both sides of the village and led to the mill complex on the level area above the river. Here was also a church, several boarding houses, and a company store. A train track (spur to Pacolet Station) serviced the mills there ... John Lancaster's mother, Ruth, most certainly would have liked the rent free house with its large yard, garden space and privy. There were few trees and no grass. Presumably the forests which covered the hills had furnished the lumber for the construction of the houses and other buildings ... Drinking water was furnished by forty-three strategically placed wells.

Small gazebo type structures containing fire-fighting equipment was never too far away. In the "Flat" by the river was a log structure near the bridge called "The City Hall." A school, organized about met there until two years later when it was moved to the basement of the "Union Church" nearby. The church and "City Hall" had been built by the mill management. The church was used on alternate Sundays by three denominations: Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterians in Their buildings were constructed at a later date. 42 The landscape remembered by Watson included at least two village areas located on either side of the river with a site layout that conformed to the hilly topography. The majority of the 41 I b':i d . 42 Watson, Pacolet Mills: A Village Called Trough, WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No.

Page 25 housing was south of the river. Historic photographs confirm Watson's description of small frame houses identical in style dotting the hilly terrain in which the mill property was situated. Each was placed on one-fourth acre lots. According to her description, the houses were not electrified, had no indoor plumbing, and the windows were unscreened. Privies were used until the Only the supervisory staff's housing had variety in regard to their plan. The remodeling of the village carried out by Sirrene and Draper greatly multiplied the number of Pacolet Mill houses.

While only 107 dwellings were in existence earlier, 296 were built out to accommodate the work force in the 43 The new house types were for the most part one-story, frame bungalows or cottages but different materials and colors were used to add diversity. Also duplexes were constructed as well as multi- storied houses. It is likely that Sirrene and Draper used the original street layout, re-graded house lots and defined smaller lots allowing the Pacolet Manufacturing Company to reuse space rather than expand onto new property. The existing topography was not amenable to the ideal radial plan preferred by Draper nor was there room for expansion between the branches of the Pacolet in which the mills and most of the mill housing was located.

Essentially, they worked with what they had and the fruits of their labor are shown on a fire insurance map and a ca. Bird's Eye View (see Appendix). Notably, most of the elements mentioned by Draper as positive mill improvements are included, however the order in which they are configured is a result of the topography and size of the mill's landholdings. In Pacolet Mills had three clusters of housing: one north of the river and two south. A Bird's Eye View and a fire insurance map show the general layout (see Appendix). The core of the mill community - the mills -- was still located on the Flat by the river. The hilly terrain directly above Mill No.

5 was not usable for housing or for manufacturing and it remained unused, separating "Bosses Row" and the remaining housing on the south side. On the north side of the river, four linear residential streets, slightly angled, extended northward above Mill No. 5. Approximately eighty-six houses lined Moore, Limestone, Greene, and Cleveland streets. Community garages were located at the 43 Ibid., WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 26 south end of the streets and cowsheds were situated on the outer limits of the small neighborhood. Dozier states in that each family in the village owned an average of one cow. 44 The Methodist Church, the only community building on this side of the river, was situated on Limestone St. immediately across the river from Mill No. 5.

The mill housing south of the river was laid out between two branches of the Pacolet River, named East and West Branches, both of which ran roughly to the north/northeast where they drained into the river. The two mill complexes (Mills 3 and 5) were located in the level areas on the south banks of the river. Mill No. 3 was slightly west of the junction of the river and East Branch. Mill No. 5 was located slightly east of West Branch. The railroad spur that connected the mill to the depot at Pacolet Station snaked along the west bank of East Branch. There are three concentrations of housing. An oval shaped housing area containing four residential streets (Montgomery, Fleming, Walker, Carson streets) with about sixty-eight homes was tucked between the railroad siding and Mill No. 5.

Community garages were interspersed within the layout and a cowshed. The second cluster of housing, Stone, Milliken, and Brewster streets connect with the riverside neighborhood and extend in a southwest direction, creating an overall L-shaped layout. Quarry Road intersects with Brewster Street. The early twentieth-century village described to Ruth Watson by her mother was a far cry from the village that Watson herself grew up in the Now electrified and sewered, Pacolet Mills housing was thoroughly modern. The semi-rural character of the earlier lots with their large gardens was shucked and cloaked in suburban clothing.

The grassless landscape with its identical buildings and privies yielded to a more suburban environment in which lots became yards, hedged rather than fenced, with ground cover and foundation shrubs. Ruth Watson remembers the results of the beautification effort in particular, the masses of pink rambling roses that were grown along the residential streets. Granite retaining walls, hillside terraces, and curved walkways were added to the overall landscape. Granite quarries had been in operation in the Pacolet area since the and granite was cut and sold by a Dozier, The Pictured Story of the Community Activities Pacolet 44 Manufacturing Company, Spartanburg, South Carolina, WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 27 number of small companies through the twentieth century.

45 The adjacent quarries were the source for the granite used in the landscaping. The beautification effort was carried out at the grassroots level as well. Home Beautiful Clubs were established in the village where lectures on home gardening could be heard and at which bulbs, plants and seeds were distributed. The mill also awarded cash prizes for the three prettiest gardens on each street. 46 Victor Park While Draper was responsible for the overall mill beautification, it was in Victor Park, the third cluster of housing, and the community areas adjacent to it, that he left his mark (See appendix for map and historic photographs). Pacolet's Mill topography may have been limiting in some respects but it also possessed a beauty of its own.

The natural environment with its hilly topography, high riverbanks, outcrops of stone, and running stream set in a deep ravine was a made to order palette for Draper to create a verdant rustic setting and a visual paradox for those who still considered mill life to be sterile and unhealthy. The area named in honor of Victor Montgomery, the firm's president, included a residential cluster, a hotel built ca. and a community park linked by a small bridge spanning West Branch to the school property located on a high elevation across the stream (see Appendix). The entire area is built on the hill known as "Hotel Hill" that leads from the Flat where the mills were located.

The residential area was composed of two parallel tree-lined streets, labeled Victor Park on the map, and joined in an elongated V-shaped configuration. A wide central median planted with trees and shrubs was placed between the two street frontages. A greenhouse and a nursery constructed at the south end of Victor Park and operated by mill employee, Gustave Loveling, a Belgian horticulturalist, supplied the many trees and shrubs needed for the landscaping. 47 The presence of Loveling suggests that he was involved with the implementation of the Draper plan. The mill would employ a crew 45 Pacolet Area Centennial Committee, The History of Pacolet, not paginated. 46 Dozier, The Pictured Story of the Community Activities Pacolet Manufacturing Company, Spartanburg, South Carolina, p. 47.

47 Watson, Pacolet Mills: A Village Called Trough, p. 24. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 28 specifically for the upkeep of the grounds throughout the village area. 48 Over twenty homes with generous setbacks and wide lots with individual or shared garages to the rear of each lined Victor Park. The homes were large two-story bungalows in which the mill superintendent, overseers, druggist, school principal, bank president and cashier, town doctor, mill office clerks, and the managers and clerks of the company store. Built on a hill known as "Hotel Hill" that led from the Flat, the residential loop possesses a much higher elevation on its southern end.

The existence of a green belt running through Victor Park's housing area, the wide lots, the development of streets and contours in keeping with the natural environment, and the use of local materials such as granite made this residential landscape notable. Victor Inn was located at the north end of the residential loop facing West Branch about midway up the hill. As Watson notes it almost appeared built into the hill; its rear elevation abutted the steep hill. 49 The inn was a well-known twenty-six-room hotel built ca. that afforded temporary housing to new mill employees waiting for a home or to visitors. Historic photographs show that it also got a facelift during this period; a circular driveway and retaining walls were added.

Granite from the nearby quarry was used as the primary landscape material. Drains paved with stone ran along each street to take advantage of the informal drainage paths the streets for provided. Draper created a small community park across from the inn in a pocket of land between the stream (West Branch) and road that was formerly used as a cornfield. Granite walls that featured a gated entry bounded the new park and newly established features such as a pond and granite well house became the setting for theatrical tableaus, picnics, and other community uses. Natural vegetation was left in place on the banks that rise high above the streambed of West Branch.

The granite park wall was tied into the granite approach walls to a small bridge that led across the West Branch of the Pacolet River to the school property. 48 Watson, Pacolet Mills: A Village Called Trough, 49 Ibid. , p. 1 . WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 29 The single-span concrete slab bridge, 35' in length and wide, with granite abutments provided vehicular and pedestrian access across the deep ravine, in which West Branch is located. The height over the creek bed, which is strewn with large rocks, is approximately Squared granite abutments anchored the concrete slab bridge to the banks of West Branch. The bridge's width was ample enough for two cars, each at 5' across.

Twelve feet in width was considered sufficient by many counties even though the first bridges built by the South Carolina Highway Department in the would observe the 18' standard then suggested by the Bureau of Public Roads. 50 A granite retaining wall about 3' high composed of good-sized rough-cut granite blocks curves around the school property. The granite walls of the park on the east side of West Branch were visually connected with the granite walls on the school property on the west bank by the use of granite on the bridge's abutments.

An impressive set of stone stairs, 13' in width and laid out in three levels, led directly from the bridge uphill to the two-story, Neoclassical school building and concrete amphitheater built in the The use of granite throughout created a cohesive landscape linking the residential area along Victor Park, the hotel property, the community park, and the school. The small bridge that connected the residential areas to the school was a very important component in the landscaping scheme. Yet it is not known whether Draper or Sirrene had a hand in its design or construction or whether they simply incorporated it as an existing landscape feature into the overall landscape plan.

It was featured in Dozier's history of the Pacolet community published in and a bridge appears in that location on a soil map of the county published in The fire insurance map shows the bridge and the road as Pine Street, which curved past the school property and led eastward to Mayesville [first known as Marysville], an African American community. A school had been built on the school property as early as so a bridge had to have been in place from that date on and possibly earlier to allow access to the school property. The presence of brick remains under the bridge suggests an earlier structure but no documentation was found identified the current bridge as a second generation structure.

50John Hammond Moore, The South Carolina Highway Department, (Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 30 The descriptions of the destructive power of the flood suggest that a bridge in that location would also have been negatively affected by the floodwaters. The replacement bridge for the main mill bridge lost in over the Pacolet River features granite piers but its size, type and the use of different materials for its superstructure, namely wood and steel, does not lend itself to comparison. Given its design and possible date, local stone masons may have been employed to build the West Branch bridge abutments while the superstructure was left to an engineering firm or even a bridge company.

51 Masons were probably plentiful in the area due to its proximity to the quarries. Roughly squared stones were used in courses in the abutments which were simply designed as end supports. Thus, the bridge's substructure may predate its superstructure as masonry abutments could easily be reused and a replacement superstructure added. 52 If the bridge was built prior to World War I it is likely that Lockwood Greene was responsible for its construction. If it dates to the post war period, J.E. Sirrene & Company is a more probable candidate. Sirrene's architectural-engineering firm built and designed the two-story brick and stone school building to house grades one through eleven in on the school property.

His firm may have been responsible for also reconstructing the small bridge over which children in the Pacolet community passed each day. No plans were found that linked either firm to the bridge. Regardless, Pacolet Manufacturing was responsible for the bridge and the mill roads until the The latter were paved in the early 53 The bridge and Pine Street would become part 51 This practice was conducted in Pennsylvania between and The proximity of the granite quarry to the east probably meant that local masons were in the vicinity and could have been use to build the bridge. 52 See Georgia Department of Transportation and Georgia Department of Natural Resources Historic Bridge Survey, September Manuscript on file, Georgia Department of Transportation Elling, Rudolph E., and Gayland B.

Witherspoon. And A Study of Pre-1951 Non-Metal Truss Highway Bridges of South Carolina. Prepared by Dr. Rudolph E. Elling, P.E., Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, and Professor Gayland B. Witherspoon, F.A.I.A, Department of Architectural Studies, College of Architecture, Clemson University, Assisted by Dr. Linda K. Varkounda, Research Consultant, for South Carolina Department of Highways and Public Transportation, June 53 May WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 31 of of the state's secondary system of roads sometime after as Road It does not show up on the Spartanburg County General Highway and Transportation Map of that year.

Given its original ownership by the mill company which has ceased operations, no information was found on the bridge' construction and for many individuals associated with the area it was always "just there." With its squared granite abutments in agreement with the walls that it links on either side of West Branch in materials and general construction, the bridge and walls appear visually unified despite their potentially separate origins. Clearly Draper used the natural environment to achieve a rustic park- like setting in which natural contours were left intact. The bridge and its surrounds were part of a "woodland park" that bordered the school and that featured a variety of native plants including yellow jessamine, violets, azaleas, laurel, holly, ferns and wildflowers.

Crossed by paths, the school park was used by the community for picnics, camp-fire parties, and nature-study lessons. 54 One resident remembers the school property of which the bridge was a part: "Broad sloping stone stair- and walkways provided access in all directions; arbored pathways led down to wooded play areas. Picturesque and reminiscent of the days when such a place would house a family rather than a flock of school children, the grounds included a large gazebo for picnicking, studying, or just general relaxation. Pathways trellised with ivy led to the tremendous amphitheater where sporting and other events were held.

" 55 The concrete amphitheater, located on the steep school property hill, could seat the entire village of in and each May a festival was held that drew in large crowds. A Converse College professor described the setting of the amphitheater as a South Carolina showplace. The open-air theater's "stage" could accommodate players, the stage curtain or backdrop was another hill covered with trees and the stage wings were green hedges. Rows of "swaying" poplars marked the exits. 56 54 Dozier, The Pictured Story of the Community Activities Pacolet Manufacturing Company, Spartanburg, South Carolina, 55 Pacolet Area Centennial Committee, The History of Pacolet, not paginated. 56 Watson, Pacolet Mills: A Village Called Trough, WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No.

Page 32 While the majority of the mill improvements occurred in the housing areas, Draper also targeted the office and store properties. He created a pleasing vista between the two high traffic areas with a colonnaded pergola that connected the entries and then, added a pair of curving stairs with shallow steps that float down the slope, relieving the steepness of the ascent. The improvements made during this era lasted through mid century and for many that lived and worked in the mill town, the landscape that Draper created at the behest of the progressive mill president was remembered with appreciation.

Almost a decade after the improvements, Trough Shoals officially became Pacolet Mills and Victor Montgomery retired as president of the firm in He had served in this capacity since Mill No. 5 had about 500 employees in and its principal products were sheeting, drills, twills, and printed cloth. Mill No. 3 employed about 57 The and witnessed many changes in the mill village. The roads would become part of the public domain, as would the school. Spartanburg County School District No. 3 was deeded the school property by the mill as part of a consolidation program. The school remained a focus for the community until when it was destroyed by fire. The mill and its general landscape remained intact until the late when Pacolet Manufacturing ended manufacturing operations at Pacolet.

The mill buildings were then used as a yarn mill operated as Pacolet Yarns, Inc. for two decades. The curtailment of manufacturing operations forced a number of changes in the community. The mill housing was sold to the employees and the housing in the Victor Park area was demolished with the exception of one building. In the South Carolina Department of Transportation built a replacement bridge across the West Branch. The flat slab and creosote timber bridge partially covered the older bridge on the east end. The historic bridge remained in place for pedestrian traffic as the school was still in operation through the Its east granite abutment was flattened and rounded to act as a support for both bridges.

The granite approach wall on the east side was also altered in to better fit the new bridge configuration. The date was inscribed on the wall. 57Associated Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Map, "Mill No. 3" (Boston, M.A. :Associated Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Companies, Index no. Serial No. And Mills Nos. 3 & 5", same series and date, Index no. Serial no. See appendix. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 33 The mill would continue in operation until when it ended weaving operations; two years later the yarn mill was closed down. The dismantlement of the mills was finally accomplished in and by that time the only extant mill buildings were the company office and a building once used as the Cloth Room.

The historic mill office is now the town hall and the remaining housing is now privately owned. The area that was Victor Park is largely vacant land; the earlier plantings are not discernable. The shrubs and landscaping laid out by Draper and planted by mill employees were compromised over time by neglect and the demolition. Only foundations and driveways are apparent, demarcating old house lots. The community park's pond and well house are no longer standing but the granite enclosure is still in a state of good preservation. This area still remains a park but has been refurbished by community members under the title of "God's Little Acre." A small church-like building with a steeple and a gazebo have been constructed.

The site of Victor Inn, opposite the park, is used for Christmas pageants and the display of a creche. On the school property, the magnificent concrete amphitheater remains intact if not somewhat overgrown. In a sense, the remaining community has created a second and different community park that is a testimony to their love of the place. While the new park has a different ethos than that established by Draper, its "bones" or structure established in its terraces, granite walls and drains is a product of his work. PART II. BRIDGE DESCRIPTION A. General Statement The West Branch bridge is a narrow pedestrian bridge that crosses the West Branch of the Pacolet River in Spartanburg County, South Carolina. The bridge spans a deep ravine. Its setting is rural and its orientation is east to west.

Built as a vehicular and pedestrian bridge for private use in a mill community it became part of the state's secondary road system in the It was replaced by a new bridge in by the South Carolina Department of Transportation and it now lies adjacent to the replacement bridge which partially overlays the historic bridge on its eastern side. The historic bridge is now devoted WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 34 to pedestrian traffic. Brick foundations under the west side and adjacent to the granite abutment are in place, possibly remnants of a former bridge or structure. B. Physical Description The concrete slab bridge is 35' long and wide. It extends 37' above the streambed.

The slab appears to have been cast-in- place as the impress of the wood forms is preserved on the underside of the span. The deck is flat with no lip or curbing. Eight sections of steel horizontal and vertical piping function as the guardrail. The horizontal piping used for the guardrail is set directly into the concrete deck. A metal grill has been loosely placed between the pipe sections for pedestrian safety. The grill is not original. Masonry abutments support the bridge's superstructure. Roughly squared granite rubble was used laid in rough courses. The west abutment is nicely squared, slightly jutting into the ravine. The 2' wide granite approach walls on the west end are integrated into the vertical elevation of the abutment, rising above the bridge deck.

The abutment on the east end is different. It is rounded rather than square and the original approach walls have been reconfigured to accommodate a more recent bridge and a new approach. The east end of the older bridge is partially overlain by a second bridge constructed in The difference in the abutments probably emanates from this period. The east abutment was altered to act as end support for the newer bridge that lies at an angle to but parallels the historic bridge. It still supports the older bridge, now used solely for a pedestrian bridge. The path of Pine Street has also been substantially changed by the South Carolina Department of Transportation during the bridge replacement. Pri0r to the road dead ended at the school stairs.

The brid~ \ and the road formed a right angle and vehicular traffic was forced to make a hard left. Pine Street then proceeded to curve around the school property. The road and bridge improvements reconfigured the west approach into a curve for vehicular traffic. On the east end, one of the approach walls has been eliminated, the other reshaped to provide more room for pedestrian traffic. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 35 PART III. SOURCES OF INFORMATION A. Engineering Drawings and Plans: No plans were found that document the origins of the bridge and no landscape plan was found that associated Draper with the Pacolet Mill extension. B.

Early Views and Historical Data: Primary and secondary research was conducted at South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina Department of Transportation, Columbia, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia, Kennedy Room, Spartanburg County Library, Spartanburg, Division of Rare & Manuscript Collections, Kroch Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington, Pacolet Town Hall, Pacolet, Spartanburg Superior Court Records, Spartanburg, Milliken & Co, Spartanburg, Emory University, Atlanta, G.A.; and School of Environmental Design Library, University of Georgia, Athens, G.A.

The records of the South Carolina Department of Transportation were helpful for the period after A map of the housing and a Bird's Eye view of Pacolet Manufacturing were found at the Pacolet Municipal Building in Pacolet; the other fire insurance maps were archived at FM Global in Boston (Associated Mutual Fire Insurance). The only series that showed Pacolet Manufacturing dated to Details from the map on housing and from the Bird's Eye view are shown in the Appendix. The Thomas Cooper Library at the University of South Carolina had several early twentieth-century maps that showed the area development. The Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington, was consulted for their manuscript collection of Lockwood, Green and Company engineering drawings.

Two maps were found but neither pertained to the subject bridge. The most informed primary information was compiled and published by the Committee of the Pacolet Area Centennial in two booklets that highlight the history of the area. A second major source is Watson's history Pacolet Mills: A Village Called Trough. All of these local publications are rich in historic photography as well as excellent sources of information. No business records WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 36 were located for J.E. Sirrene & Company or for Pacolet Manufacturing despite considerable research. The best source on the latter is the booklet published in by the Pacolet Manufacturing Company and written by Katherine Dozier. The booklet is essentially a pictorial history. There is no summary document on Draper.

His papers are archived at the Department of Manuscripts and University Archives, Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, New York. Another valuable source was the Charles Aguar research collection on Draper on deposit at the School of Environmental Design Library at the University of Georgia. In particular, this collection includes a photographic scrapbook on Draper projects kept by Draper. Three photographs from the scrapbook are included in the Appendix. Other sources on Draper include Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission Survey and Research Reports, as well as a finding aid published online titled "Charlotte Voices A Special Collections Exhibit." The exhibit was displayed at the J.

Murrey Atkins Library, University of North Carolina at Charlotte in Period journals such as Textile World and Landscape Architecture also yielded articles written by Earle Sumner Draper and established conclusively that Draper and Sirrene were responsible for the mill and mill community improvements. The only historical view of the study bridge that was identified dates to It was published in the booklet published by Pacolet Manufacturing in and it is shown in the Appendix. Interviews: No formal interviews were conducted for this project. Members of the Pacolet Area Centennial Committee who produced the history booklets and Ruth Watson, local historian, were extremely helpful on general matters but could not provide any more information on the bridge.

Telephone contact was made with successor firms for J.E. Sirrene & Co. and with Milliken & Company but no records were identified that dealt with the study bridge. D. Bibliography Aguar, Charles Research Papers. Manuscript collection on Earle Sumner Draper and research notes. Athens, G.A.: School of Environmental Design Library, University of Georgia. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 37 Associated Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Maps, Pacolet Manufacturing Co., "Mill No. 3" Index no. Serial No. Associated Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Companies, On file FM Global, Boston, M.A. Associated Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Map, Pacolet Manufcaturing Co., "And Mills Nos. 3 & 5", Index no. Serial no. Associated Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Companies, On file FM Global, Boston, M.A.

Associated Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Map, Tenements, Pacolet Manufacturing Co., "Mills No's 3 & 5," Index No. Serial No. Associated Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Companies, On file FM Global, Boston, M.A. Carlton,David L. Mill and Town in South Carolina Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, "Charlotte Voices A Special Collections Exhibit," J. Murrey Atkins Library, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dozier, Katherine. The Pictured Story of the Community Activities Pacolet Manufacturing Company Spartanburg, South Carolina (Spartanburg, Pacolet Manufacturing Company, Draper, E.S. "Mill Village Improvements: Progressive Southern Mills Consider Village Maintenance as Important as Mill Upkeep," Textile World, February 9, Draper, E.S.

"Southern Textile Village Planning," Landscape Architecture, Vol. XVIII, October No. 1. Draper, Earle Sumner Sr. Papers (No. Department of Manuscripts and University Archives, Carl A. Kroch Library, Cornell University Library, Ithaca, New York. Edgar, Walter. South Carolina: A History. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, Elling, Rudolph E., and Gayland B. Witherspoon. A Study of Pre-1951 Non-Metal Truss Highway Bridges of South Carolina. Prepared by Dr. Rudolph E. Elling, P.E., Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, and Professor Gayland B. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No.

Page 38 Witherspoon, F.A.I.A, Department of Architectural Studies, College of Architecture, Clemson University,for South Carolina Department of Highways and Public Transportation, June Georgia Department of Transportation and Georgia Department of Natural Resources Historic Bridge Survey, September Manuscript on file, Georgia Department of Transportation. Huff, Archie Vernon Greenville The History of the City and County in the South Carolina Piedmont (Columbia, University of South Carolina Press, Huffman, Dr. William H. "The Earle Sumner Draper House", Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission Survey and Research Reports, Kohn, August. The Cotton Mills of South Carolina (Charleston, Daggett Printing Company, Lockwood, Green and Company.

Pacolet Manufacturing Company, "Sketch Showing Levels for New Store and Office Building, Pacolet Manufacturing Company, Pacolet, June 22, Lockwood Greene Collection, File No. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian, Washington,D.C. Lockwood, Green and Company. Pacolet Manufacturing Company, "Plat of Part of Property Showing Location of New Office Building, Store and Addition to Warehouse, Pacolet Manufacturing Company, Pacolet, May 8, Lockwood Greene Collection, File No. National Museum of American History, Smithsonian, Washington,D.C. May, Carl. "Pacolet's Good Ole Days Recalled," Spartanburg Journal, September 8, On file, Spartanburg County Public Library. McCullough, E.H. Map of Spartanburg County. Compiled from Sloan and Eptons's Survey of State and U.S.

maps and Other Authentic Sources, Map on File at the Spartanburg County Public Library. McKissick, Edward P. "The Story of Spartan Push," News and Courier, Charleston, July 28, WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 39 Mitchell, Broadus The Rise of Cotton Mills in the South (Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press, Moore, John Hammond. The South Carolina Highway Department, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, Morrill, Dr. Dan L. "The Earle Sumner Draper House", Queens Rd. Pacolet Area Centennial Committee, The History of Pacolet, (Pacolet, Pacolet Area Centennial Committee [Third Printing], Pacolet Area Centennial Committee, Amphitheater Steering Committee. The History of Pacolet, Volume II. (Pacolet, Pacolet Area Centennial Committee, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Soils.

Soil Map, South Carolina, Spartanburg County Sheet. Field Operations: Williams-Webb Co., On file, Thomas Cooper Library, University of South Carolina. Watson, Ruth. Pacolet Mills: A Village Called Trough. (Greenville,S.C.: Published by the author, PART IV. PROJECT INFORMATION South Carolina Department of Transportation has determined that the bridge constructed in is functionally obsolete and plans are in development for its removal and replacement. The bridge improvements will also include the removal of the historic bridge currently used as a pedestrian bridge. This bridge is considered historically significant as an architectural component within the landscape design created by Earle Sumner Draper ca. for Victor Park as part of a mill extension for Pacolet Manufacturing.

South Carolina Division of Archives and History has identified a National Register eligible district of which Victor Park is considered a contributing element. New South Associates entered into an agreement with South Carolina Department of Transportation to document the bridge prior to its replacement. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 40 Pacolet Manufacturing Co. housing, Victor Park area is shown at center right. Mill No. 3 is to the left on riverbank; Mill No. 5., center. Map oriented south to north. Source: Pacolet Mills Town Hall, Pacolet, WEST Bl.a\J\TCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 41 Detail of Victor Park showing "Bosses Row,'' Victor Hotel, bridge, and school property, The map is oriented south to north. Source: Pacolet Mills Town Hall, Pacolet, WEST BRA~TCH BRIDGE HAER No.

Page 42 Detail from Bird's Eye View of Pacolet Mills showing Mill No. 5 (foreground), Victor Park's tree-lined streets, Victor Hotel, and school property ca. Source: Pacolet Mills Town Hall, Pacolet, ?: WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 43 Detail showing layout of mill housing between East and West Branch, south of Pacolet River, Victor Park is to the right. Map orientation is south to north. Source: Pacolet Mills Town Hall, Pacolet, WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 44 Detail from ca. Bird's Eye View showing housing layout west of East Branch in bend of river. Mill No. 3 is shown in foreground. Source: Pacolet Mills Town Hall, Pacolet, WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 45 Mill housing area north of the river, Map orientation south to north.

Source: Pacolet Mills Town Hall, Pacolet, WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 46 Detail from Bird's Eye View showing housing north of Pacolet River. Source: Pacolet Mills Town Hall, Pacolet, WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 47 Doctor's residence and cornfield on Hotel Hill. Victor Hotel was situated opposite and up the hill. The land cultivated as a cornfield in this photograph would become the community park designed by Draper. This photograph is a "before" view that was found in Draper's photographic scrapbook. Source: School of Environmental Design, University of Georgia, Athens, GA. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No.

Page 48 Photograph showing cornfield now developed into a community green space within the Victor Park area in which meandering paths through the park have been laid out and a well house and pond built for architectural focus. A granite retaining wall and gate has been added as well as a concrete walkway across the unimproved street that led to the study bridge. Source: School of Environmental Design, University of Georgia, Athens, G.A. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 49 May pageant held in community park in Victor Park area, ca. This view shows the granite well house and stone pond with fountain that became integral elements within Draper's park design in this public green space.

Source: Katherine Dozier, The Pictured Story of the Commun:iJ::y Activities Pacolet Manufacturing Company, Spartanburg, South Carolina The remaining photographs in this appendix are from this source. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 50 View of Victor Park showing curving streets, ample lots and setbacks, circa View of Victor Park showing plantings in greenbelt supplied by company nursery. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 51 This view of the 26-room Victor Hotel shows its sitting on the hill. The hotel was built ca. its curved walls and driveway were added in the The hotel was used as a "Teacher's Home' in WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 52 This was the only historic view found of the West Branch Bridge. The ca. photograph was taken looking south from the streambed.

~~ The granite bridge leads to the granite steps to the school and concrete amphitheater. The steps and retaining wall on Pine Street and the amphitheater are still intact. "" WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 53 The Pacolet School built in by J.E. Sirrene and Co. was known to area residents as the "Grand Old Lady." It served the community until WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 54 k ,') Concrete amphitheater built adjacent to the school, circa The outdoor arena had sufficient seating for the entire community. Pacolet community's May Pageant held in amphitheater, circa WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 55 Operative's housing on Victor Street, ca. Operative's housing on unnamed street, ca. WEST BRANCH BRIDGE HAER No. Page 56 Main bridge over Pacolet River replaced after flood.