Textile Heritage Park

There is a new park coming to Greenville! The Greenville Revitalization Corporation held a groundbreaking Monday morning, marking the start of Phase I of construction. The 6 acres that will soon be Textile Heritage Park are on Smythe Street, across from the Lofts of Greenville at Monaghan Mill.

Greenville Revitalization Corporation is a private, non-profit economic development organization for Greenville County in South Carolina. Their stated purpose is to “strengthen the local economy, particularly the communities of Greenville’s historic Textile Crescent.” (source: GRC website) Other GRC projects include Woodside Mill and the Poinsett Corridor.

During the early days of Monaghan Mill the site was home to a greenspace named “Central Park,” utilized by the mill village for parades, concerts and other recreational activities. During the groundbreaking, the Greenville Textile Heritage Society mentioned an annual spring parade where mothers would promenade with their new babies in the ‘baby parade.’ Later a portion was paved to serve as the mill’s parking lot, and most recently the paved part was an extra parking area for The Lofts of Greenville. Next to the park was the Monaghan School, which burned down in 1954.

The first phase of construction will include putting in a new parking area near the existing pedestrian crossing to Monaghan Mill, and construction of the children’s playground. The playground is the result of a $30,000 grant from the John I. Smith Charities.

Plans show an event building; half is slated to house a textile museum while the rest will be a sheltered space for concerts, outdoor movies, picnics and other activities. A natural outdoor classroom will be situated on the banks of the creek (a tributary to the Reedy River), which the Greenville County Soil & Water Conservation District will be helping to stabilize. There will be a community garden, and a second, smaller parking lot on McBeth Street across from the existing adult day care center. Finally, an open lawn and a natural wildflower meadow will be connected by a “Mill Walk,” featuring 12 alcoves each dedicated to a different mill: American Spinning, Brandon, Camperdown, Dunean, Judson, Mills Mill, Monaghan, Piedmont, Poe, Poinsett, Slater, Union Bleachery, Woodside and Park High School.

Rock wall for the Dunean Mill alcove

“By bringing this property back to its former life as a park, the Textile Heritage Park will serve as a tribute to the history of the textile industry in Greenville,” the GRC stated in the news release.

Phase II is dependent on the finding funding, and to speed this along the corporation is offering brick naming opportunities for the alcoves. For more information visit GRC website. The Greenville Revitalization Corp. is also accepting monetary and service material donations to the park.