Rock Hill Cotton Factory

National Register Listing

Street Address:

215 Chatham St., Rock Hill, SC (York County)

Alternate Name:

Plej's Textile Outlet; Ostrow Textile Mill

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NRHP Nomination

Record Number:

S10817746034

Description and Narrative:

(Ostrow Textile Mill) The Rock Hill Cotton Factory, built in 1881, is significant for its leading role in the development of the textile industry in Rock Hill and for the major economic impact which this industry had on the town. The factory is also significant as an excellent example of an early textile building and of an architectural form that was repeated many times by later mills. As the cotton industry expanded in the 1870s, many communities in the Piedmont looked to financial investments and technology from New England to develop cotton manufacturing. An aggressive business community in Rock Hill set out to supply the necessary capital and labor locally. The investors recruited Captain A. D. Holler to build the mill. He used the Camperdown Mill in Greenville as a model for the new Rock Hill mill. Opening in 1881, the mill became the first steam-driven textile mill in South Carolina, and was the first mill in Rock Hill. Later, as electricity became available from the pioneering hydroelectric development of the Catawba River, the mill was converted. A number of additions have been made to the building. Listed in the National Register June 10, 1992. Boundary increase March 6, 2008.

Period of Significance:

1881

Level of Significance:

Local

Area of Significance:

Industry;Architecture

National Register Determination:

listed

Date of Certification:

June 10 1992

Date of Boundary Increase:

March 6 2008

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