South Carolina Department of Archives and History |
National Register Properties in South Carolina Vaucluse Mill Village Historic District, Aiken County (S.C. Hwy. 191, Vaucluse) |
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Vaucluse historic district includes the Vaucluse mill compound, located in the center of the village; a ca. 1904 three-building commercial complex located just north of the mill compound; a company built swimming pavilion; the 1877 mill dam; the Vaucluse mill pond; and 83 former company dwellings located in parallel rows along five of the villages residential streets that extend in a rough spoke fashion from the mill compound. The general character of the historic district is a combination of industrial, commercial, and residential use. The Vaucluse mill dominates all other structures in the village; the mill compound includes an 1877 boiler house and smokestack, seven brick hose houses, a 1939 office building, and a 1943 employee canteen. The textile mill village at Vaucluse is an excellent example of a southern textile mill village. It is the oldest mill village in the state, with textile production commencing there around 1830. Contextually, it relates to the birth, rise and decline of the textile industry in South Carolina. In addition, Vaucluse represents the social changes brought about by the spread of mill villages in the state, with the development of the mill worker population created by the expansion of the textile industry. Vaucluse was also the site of William Gregg’s first foray into textile production, with many historians considering Gregg to be the father of the textile industry in the South. The 1877 mill building was also one of the earliest efforts of architect Amos Lockwood, whose subsequent firm, Lockwood and Greene, would go on to design 50 textile manufacturing facilities in South Carolina. Lockwood’s factory design at Vaucluse was of the earliest examples of the New England prototype mill to be built in South Carolina. Listed in the National Register May 7, 1996.
View a map showing the boundaries of the Vaucluse Mill Village Historic District.
View the complete text of the nomination form for this National Register property.
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