Apalache Mill
National Register Listing
Street Address:
2200 Racing Rd., Greer vicinity (Spartanburg County)
Alternate Name:
Arlington Mills;Cedar Hill Factory;South Tyger Manufactory Co.
NRHP Nomination Form
Record Number:
S10817742071
Description and Narrative:
Apalache Mill is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places at the local level under Criterion A for Industry, for its association with the history of the textile industry in the late part of the nineteenth century and first half of the twentieth century in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Among the first five mills built in the upstate, the Apalache Mill site is the last surviving, and remained active from 1837 to 2007. The 1888 mill was the second brick building on the site and was constructed at the beginning of the modern textile boom in Spartanburg County. The Apalache Mill is also an example of early twentieth century hydroelectric powered textile mill, and important advance in industrial development in the upstate. It was the first to use a General Electric Company system to provide long distance power to the Victor Mill in Greer, two miles away. Throughout the mill's existence it produced fancy cotton, sheeting, and linen goods. Production continued until 2007, when operation was consolidated in the Greer Mill. The boundaries of the Apalache Mill complex also include the adjacent dam and mill pond. Apalache Dam is a masonry gravity dam and impoundment of the water in Lake Apalache. With its 40-foot drop it had the ability to drive large turbines. The dam was under construction in 1902-3 and completed in 1904 and its completion resulted in a major change in the operations of the mill. The use of off-site electrical power and overhead cabling gave the mill a cheap source of power. The construction of the dam also solved a significant problem for the mill owners; the fact eight months out of each year the Apalache hydro plant would produce more power than the mill needed, while during the other months it produced less than needed. In planning the 1903 mill prominent architect and mill engineer Joseph E. Sirrine was tasked with solving this dilemma. The Apalache Mill site did not contain the necessary land to build a new steam power plant, while the Victor Mill site, located nearby and under the same ownership, had an abundance of land. The solution that Sirrine devised was to lay power lines between the two mills and the General Electric Company (GE) installed a new Curtis steam turbine and generator at Victor Mills. GE then installed a 2,300 volt water wheel driven generator at the Apalache Mill. Both mills had switchboards installed to coordinate the two generators. Excess power could be delivered to the Victor Mill from the Apalache Mill hydro plant, and additional power could be generated at Victor Mill and delivered to Apalache during times of insufficient water flow. Listed in the National Register December 15, 2015.
Period of Significance:
1888 – 1946;1888;1903;1934;1946
Area of Significance:
Industry
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
2015-12-15
Date of Boundary Increase:
No Boundary Increase
Location:
Spartanburg County;Greer
