Greenville in Greenville County, South Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)
Wyche Pavilion
Photographed By Brian Scott, February 15, 2009
1. Wyche Pavilion Marker
Inscription.
Wyche Pavilion. .
In Honor of Harriet and Tommy Wyche Given by Their Friends In Appreciation of Their Dedication and Leadership in the Restoration of Downtown Greenville.
In Honor of Harriet and Tommy Wyche
Given by Their Friends
In Appreciation of Their Dedication
and Leadership in the Restoration of
Downtown Greenville
Location. 34° 50.8′ N, 82° 24.1′ W. Marker is in Greenville, South Carolina, in Greenville County. Marker is on Japanese Dogwood Lane, on the left when traveling north. Marker is on the east side of the pavilion. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Greenville SC 29601, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Reedy River Industrial Complex is the only area in downtown Greenville which has maintained its historic and architectural character as a nineteenth and early twentieth century industrial and commercial district. (Submitted on February 25, 2009, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina.)
Additional commentary. 1. Wyche Pavilion In 1904 , a two-story brick paint shop was built by J.E. Sirrine for the Greenville Coach Factory (as it was not called), but the coming of the automobile was the death knell for the production of wagons and carriages. Markley decided to sell the business in 1911, bringing a seventy-six-year industrial chapter in Greenville's local history to a close. The closing of one chapter would soon lead to the start of another, however. In 1925 the old carriage factory paint shop building became the first factory for the production of Duke's mayonnaise...Duke's mayonnaise was eventually sold to C.F. Sauer Co. in 1929, but still operates under the name that made the product famous. (Source: A Guide to Historic Greenville, South Carolina by John M. Nolan (2008, pgs. 53-54.)
— Submitted February 25, 2009, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina.
Photographed By Brian Scott, March 20, 2011
2. Wyche Pavilion - From River Place
sectionheadg>2. Reedy River Industrial Historic District Located directly on the reedy River in the central business district of Greenville, South Carolina, the Reedy River Industrial Complex is representative of the City of Greenville's historical development into a leading manufacturing and textile center. The Reedy River Industrial Complex contains six individual or commercial structures constructed between 1850 and 1914. Visually connected by the Reedy River, these structures were historically developed as portions of a related industrial complex which served the Greenville Coach-Markley carriage Factory and the Huguenot Mill. This Reedy River Industrial Complex is the only area in downtown Greenville which still maintains its 19th and early 20th century industrial and commercial character.
1. The Greenville Coach Factory Blacksmith Shop 46' by 99' (Markley Alley).Constructed circa 1850 as a blacksmith shop for the Greenville Coach Factory, this building is one of the oldest structures in downtown Greenville. It is a three and one-half story shed-roofed building constructed with handmade brick and hand hewn wooden framing members. The 9/9 windows have crude wooden lintels. No nails were used in its construction. An elevator or a "hoisting shaft" rises through the three floors of the building. Early rope-operated iron gears, axles and pulleys are still
Photographed By Brian Scott, March 20, 2011
3. Wyche Pavilion Looking West Along the Reedy River
attached to the ceiling inside of the shaft. This building is currently used as a warehouse for a department store.
2. The Markley Carriage Factory Pain Shop 48' by 135' (Reedy River just west of the South Main Street Bridge). Built prior to 1915 as part of Markley Carriage Factory and hardware complex, the Paint Shop is a two-story brick structure with large windows of the same size on each story. The near flat roof has a cupola at its center. This cupola may have been removed from an older building at the Greenville Coach Factory when it was torn down to make room for the Paint Shop. The building's interior was altered in 1922 to accommodate the Duke's Products Company, a mayonnaise factory later bought by the C.F. Sauer Company. The building has been vacant since 1958.
3. The Markley Hardware Store 53' by 130' (422 South Main Street). This two-story commercial structure with ground level basement at the rear was built between 1905 and 1914 as a retail hardware store for the Markley Carriage Factory. It replaced the smaller hardware store and office of the Greenville Coach Factory. Unusual exterior features include "pressed brick" in difference muted colors in a pattern on the facade and leaded glass panels at the spandrel above the first level. The interior has a decorative pressed tin ceiling and frieze. The building is presently vacant.
4.
Photographed By Brian Scott, February 15, 2009
4. Wyche Pavilion - From Walking Bridge Spanning the Reedy River
The Huguenot Mill (Broad Street at River Street Bridge). The Huguenot Mill is an L-shaped two-story brick cotton mill constructed in 1882. Its features include a water, ventilating and stair tower on the north corner, and the monitored roofs and general features of "Fireproof Construction" common to the New England mills of the same period. The mill has been altered several times to accommodate the expanding industrial needs of the Huguenot Mill and later the Nuckasee Manufacturing Company. Several outbuildings of the Huguenot Mill were removed about 1913 and the windows were bricked up about 1960.
5. The Huguenot Mill Office (Broad Street at River Street Bridge). This small two-story brick office was built between 1890 and 1900 in a modified Italianate design. Exterior features of the office include round arched projecting hood moldings around the doors and windows, and ornate modillions with pendants at the cornice. There is a louvered dormer on the north slope of the pyramidal hipped tin roof. The interior features include tongue and groove paneling at the dado, an unusually wooden mantle featuring spiraled spindles and pendants and a cast iron sink with a shell design at its base on the second floor.
6. The Cotton Warehouse (South Main and West Camperdown Way). 110' by 86' by 40' by 162' (corner of South Main and Camperdown Way). The
Photographed By Brian Scott, February 15, 2009
5. Wyche Pavilion - Interior North Wall
Cotton Warehouse was constructed between 1908 and 1913 as a warehouse for the Huguenot Mill. This unusual three-story, five sided building with a ground level basement at the rear is constructed of reinforced concrete and brick. The arched windows on the front facade have been filled with block, glass and brick. The building is presently occupied by a garment manufacturer on the first floor. The upper floors are vacant.
In 1978, the area of the Reedy River Industrial Complex was the subject of a survey and planning grant, funded by the Department of interior and administered by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. The Greenville Museum Commission, recipient of the grant, has conducted a survey of the area and developed a feasibility study for the creation of a regional textile museum complex to be located in the restored structures of the Reedy River Industrial Complex. This museum complex will be an educational and commercial facility designed to tell the history of the American Textile Industry and to display current textile operations and future innovations.
Significance
The Reedy River Industrial Complex is significant as the only area in downtown Greenville, South Carolina which has maintained its historic and architectural character as a 19th and early 20th Century industrial and commercial district. Featuring six industrial
Photographed By Brian Scott, February 15, 2009
6. Wyche Pavilion - Interior South Wall
or commercial structures constructed between 1850 and 1914, the Reedy River Industrial Complex represents Greenville's transition from a 19th Century summer resort and agricultural village into a leading international textile center.
The Reedy River Industrial Complex is located directly on the Reedy River, the geographical and historical center of the City of Greenville. The power generating capabilities of the Reedy River were indirectly responsible for the founding of Greenville at this site in the early 1800s. During Greenville's formative period, the mills that were the economic life of the city sat on the Reedy River in order to use its power. The original historic core of this area (containing the Reedy River Falls, the Furman University Botanical Gardens and the site of the earliest grist mill) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 23, 1973 as the Reedy River Historic Park and Greenway. This important area reflects the early agricultural and manufacturing history of the city.
As a logical counterpart to this early district, the Reedy River Industrial Complex reflects Greenville's rapid industrial development during the 19th and early 20th centuries. This industrialization was later to give Greenville the slogan "Textile Center of the World."
The Reedy River Industrial Complex is a distinct geographic area which has historically
Photographed By Brian Scott, February 15, 2009
7. Wyche Pavilion - Interior West Wall
been developed as an interrelated industrial complex. The first development within the district's boundaries began in 1835 when Ebenezer Gower and Thomas Cox established a wagon and carriage factory. Shortly thereafter, Thomas Claghorn Gower, Ebenezer's younger brother, joined the manufactury; in 1853 H.C. Markley also joined the firm and expanded its operations. The firm was then called the Greenville Coach Factory. By 1856, the factory employed 100 men, sold $80,000 worth of vehicles a year and was considered to be the largest carriage factory in the South. Later called Markley's carriage Factory, the company was in continuous operation from 1835 to 1914 when the increased use of the automobile put the factory out of business. During the factory's existence a large industrial complex was constructed on the reedy River. Remaining from this complex are the Blacksmith Shop, Paint Shop, and Hardware Store.
In 1882, the Huguenot Mill was built on the reedy River directly northwest of the Greenville Coach Factory. Although built directly on a water power source, the Huguenot Mill was designed from the beginning as a coal-fueled steam-powered mill, one of the first in the Piedmont region of South Carolina. the mill was also the first mill in the state to produce plaid materials along with cottons and ginghams. In 1913, the Huguenot Mill was expanded and renamed Nuckasee mill.
Photographed By Brian Scott, February 15, 2009
8. Wyche Pavilion - Exterior North Wall
It was then the first in the state to manufacture finished products utilizing the cloth manufactured and bleached by other mills in the same city.
The success of the Huguenot Mill and others built at the turn of the century on the periphery of the city created the need for cotton and cotton waste storage and warehousing operations. The Cotton Warehouse across South Main Street from the coach factory of one of the remaining warehouses in downtown Greenville which served the Huguenot mill for this purpose.
After World War II, Greenville experienced a continued industrial growth which was largely focused in its outlying areas. The buildings of the reedy River Industrial Complex were either abandoned or adapted for new uses. Currently there are plans to restore the entire area of the Reedy River Industrial Complex for use as a textile museum complex to be called the "Textile Place." (Source: National Register nomination form.)
— Submitted April 30, 2010, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina.
Credits. This page was last revised on December 13, 2019. It was originally submitted on February 25, 2009, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina. This page has been viewed 5,278 times since then and 261 times this year. Photos:1. submitted on February 25, 2009, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina. 2, 3. submitted on April 4, 2011, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. submitted on February 25, 2009, by Brian Scott of Anderson, South Carolina.
