Kendall Mill Historic District
National Register Listing
Street Address:
Roughly bounded by RR tracks, Kendall Lake, Lakeshore Dr., McRae Rd., and Haile St., Camden, SC (Kershaw County)
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817728010
Description and Narrative:
The Kendall Mill Historic District is centered around the Wateree Plant and associated structures that date from 1899 to 1923. The district contains eight properties of key historic or architectural significance and 113 supporting properties which illustrate the growth of the companies which utilized the plant through the years. The mill village to the south and southeast of the plant was built between 1900 and ca. 1925 and is a virtually intact reminder of the importance of the textile industry to South Carolina. The mill faces Kendall Park, a ten-acre landscaped park. On the eastern border of the park are the mill supervisors’ houses, built between 1900 and ca. 1925. The operatives house consist of one-story, one-and-one-half-story, and a few two-story frame houses which date from 1900 to 1923. The district also includes Kendall Lake, north of the mill. The Dekalb Cotton Mill was organized in 1899. The Dekalb Mill building, designed by W.B. Smith Whaley in the Romanesque Revival style, was considered a model of textile architecture. The original plant building is a four-story rectangular brick building with a back stair tower and an imposing six-story front stair tower. The west addition to the plant, which is in keeping, architecturally, with the older buildings, was constructed in 1964. Listed in the National Register March 19, 1982.
Period of Significance:
1899 – 1923
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Industry
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
March 19 1982
