South Carolina Department of Archives and History |
National Register Properties in South Carolina Pacolet Mills Historic District, Spartanburg County (Pacolet) |
The Pacolet Mills Historic District is significant under the thematic areas of industry and community planning and development, and for its architecture and landscape architecture. This district is an excellent example of an early to mid-twentieth century South Carolina textile mill village, one centered around a mill that opened in 1883 and closed in 1983, including significant designs by architects J. Frank Collins and Luther D. Proffitt and landscape architect and planner Earle S. Draper. The Pacolet Mills Historic District includes the mill office, a cloth room and warehouse, two churches and 237 supervisor and operative houses. There are 129 properties that contribute to the character of the district and 114 properties that do not contribute. The district features a variety of mill village house types. Most were built between 1915 and 1920, with a few built ca. 1950. There are five main house types. The majority of the houses have undergone alterations since their initial construction. In spite of these types of alterations, approximately 50% of the houses retain their basic form and characteristics. Earle S. Draper’s 1919 landscape plan for the Pacolet Mills village featured paved streets and sidewalks - unusual in most textile mill villages of the period - as well as stone or concrete terraces, walls, and steps, and parks and other green spaces. Such landscape features all contribute to the historic, architectural, and landscape character of this historic district. Although the three main Pacolet Mills - built in 1883, 1888, and 1891, respectively - and a fourth mill built in 1894 were demolished in the late 1980s, the Pacolet Mills village that was laid out and built in 1919 is largely intact. The road system in the four major sections of the Pacolet Mills village is also intact. Listed in the National Register November 16, 2007.
View a map showing the boundaries of the Pacolet Mills Historic District.
View the complete text of the nomination form for this National Register property.
Most National Register properties are privately owned and are not open to the public. The privacy of owners should be respected. Not all properties retain the same integrity as when originally documented and listed in the National Register due to changes and modifications over time.
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