A Big Start for a Tight-Knit Community

When J.I. Westervelt purchased 300 acres of Greenville County land in 1911, he knew he was starting something big. Not only would the land on Easley Bridge Road become one of the largest mills in Greenville County — and the first fine goods textile mill in all the South — it would also become a community that built a way of life around the mill.

Westervelt was part of the “Pawtucket Syndicate” of northern textile investors. When he began running the mill in 1912, after having built 75 electrified homes for mill workers and their families, he passed on the day-to-day work of running the mill to a Greenville local, former Furman Professor Bennette Greer. As president of the mill, Greer changed its name to Judson Mill, honoring fellow Furman professor and mentor, Charles Judson. He quickly began building the mill and its adjacent village in the fashion of other mill communities that were already thriving in the area, including Mills Mill and Union Bleachery, as well as Dunean Mill, which began operating that same year. By 1923, the plant had 52,864 spindles and produced 11,000,000 yards of cloth yearly.

The Judson Mill Village was a self-sustaining community. It included gardens and a garden club, sports teams, a streetcar stop, and even its own radio station. Residents turned the village into a thriving community of friends and neighbors, where everyone knew each other and watched out for each other. Local activities, such as baseball and basketball games, brought the entire community out in force to cheer on their local players.

Judson’s Modern Design

Judson Mill was built more than a decade after the first mills of Greenville County, and it benefited by learning from their mistakes. Most mills at the time were designed vertically, taking up less land, but making it hard to move goods and workers around the multi-story buildings. Judson Mill, on the other hand, was just two stories high. The horizontal design also helped prevent the spread of fires in the buildings, since they could be more easily contained.

As the mill grew throughout the decades, its separate buildings were gradually linked, allowing the mill to integrate its manufacturing processes. The building was also modern in that it boasted air conditioning and heating, a luxury few mills provided. The controlled air was not just a bonus for workers — it helped extend the lifespan of the machinery and the building itself.

Trouble in the Mills

Like many of the mills in the South, however, Judson Mill was hit hard by World War I. During the war, Greer laid off many operatives and cut the pay and hours of those who were left. Workers responded by organizing a strike. Greer fired some of the striking workers and closed the plant for two weeks in retaliation. Workers returned when the plant was re-opened, in need of a paycheck. Greer wrote about these strongman tactics later, calling the moves “necessary” to keep workers in line.

A Long Period of Growth

By the 1920s, the mill was running strong again. Business was booming, according to Greer, especially after Judson became the first Southern mill to produce DuPont’s rayon fabric. By 1927, Judson’s stocks had skyrocketed, so Greer decided to sell a majority of shares to the selling-agent Deering-Milliken. The village housed hundreds of workers and their families, and the mill was the largest in the county. Greer continued as president until he returned to Furman University to serve as its president in 1933.

Changes Come to the Village

In 1939, Milliken began to move away from the Mill Village model that had sustained the community thus far. The company sold all of the village’s 565 houses to residents. This gave residents more autonomy and control over their homes and lives, but it also removed the safety net of mill-supported infrastructure and community events.

Changes came to the mill as well, with an expanded floorplan allowing for a growing research and development program. The mill eventually expanded to a 1,000,000-square-foot campus. In 1960, Judson became a division of Milliken & Company.

A Contemporary Evolution

Judson Mill remained operative until 2015, producing textiles more than a century after it opened its doors. In 2018, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. Three of the original 1912 structures remain intact — the main mill, the picker room, and the weave room. In 2019, Belmont Sayre Holdings of Chapel Hill, N.C., and Taft Family Ventures of Greenville, N.C., began an “adaptive reuse” renovation project of the mill. The aim is to evolve the space into a mixed-use, sustainable-living community, taking the Mill Village’s history as its inspiration. The McMillan Pazdan Smith Architecture studio designed the space, and today it includes loft-style apartments that maintain the Mill’s original architectural charm, large event spaces that highlight the Mill’s large windows and brick facade, restaurants, and other retail stores. The Judson Mill District also hosts community events like movie nights and craft fairs, bringing back some of the charm of Mill Village community life.

MetroConnects’ Contribution

As part of its Clean Water Forward initiative, MetroConnects will be making wastewater collection infrastructure improvements throughout the Judson Mill Village area. Like other Mill Village communities, much of the sewer system is made up of the original pipes, which are more than 100 years old and beyond their useful life. This infrastructure improvement will help prevent Inflow and Infiltration (I&I) caused by cracks and deterioration in the pipes. Excess water, especially during wet weather events, can enter the pipes through these cracks, potentially causing Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSOs) that can contaminate local water sources and create public health hazards. Other Clean Water Forward projects include work in the Mills Mill Village, which began in June, in the Dunean Mill Village, which is expected to begin late summer, and in the Union Bleachery Village, which is expected to begin in late fall. Much of this work is being funded by federal, state and local grants. Visit www.cleanwaterforward.org to learn more about the initiative, these projects, and related events!