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The cotton textile industry became one of South Carolina's leading sources of income by the end of the 19th century, but it had its origins in two sets of related technological advances in the late...
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The Graniteville Mill, built by William Gregg (see William Gregg) in 1846, was one of the first cotton textile mills in the South, and laid the basis for the expansion of South Carolina's textile...
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Eddie Norton, a sweeper in the Saxon Mill, Spartanburg, was photographed by the child labor reformer Lewis Hine on May 17, 1912, for the U.S. Child Labor Commission. Courtesy of the National Archives...
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The Woodside Cotton Mill in Greenville boasted in this 1913 postcard view that it was the largest complete cotton mill under one roof in America. The trolley brought mill operatives directly to the...
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Not to be outdone by Greenville's claim (see The Woodside Cotton Mill), this Columbia postcard of around 1915 describes the Olympia and Granby Cotton Mills: "Olympia Mill, the largest cotton mill...
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The Mount Vernon Mill, also known as the Columbia Duck Mill because it manufactured heavy cotton duck cloth, is now the site for South Carolina's State Museum. It was the first electric-powered...
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The Fairfield Cotton Mill, built in 1898, expanded its operation with the construction of this new building in 1918. The original owners sold the plant to Hampton Cotton Mills of Greenville in 1912...
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Unloading raw cotton from the train at the Winnsboro Mills, around 1929. Courtesy of Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Manufacturing.
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Raw cotton is carded in sliver, a thick rope of cotton fibers, in the #2 plant of the Winnsboro Mills, around 1930. Courtesy of Uniroyal Goodrich Tire Manufacturing.
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A man threads cotton thread onto spools at the Mount Vernon Mill, 1960-62. Courtesy of the South Carolina State Museum.