Greer Historic Resources Survey
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
City of Greer Historic Resources Survey City of Greer, Greenville and Spartanburg Counties, South Carolina August 2017 2 City of Greer Historic Resources Survey City of Greer, Greenville and Spartanburg Counties, South Carolina Final Report August 2017 Prepared for: City of Greer Planning and Zoning division of the Building and Development Standards Department 301 East Poinsett Street Greer, South Carolina 29651 Prepared by: Sheldon Owens Historian/Project Manager and Charlie Philips Historian Atlanta • Charleston • Elizabethtown • Jackson • Nashville • Savannah ii Abstract In 2017, Brockington and Associates, Inc., con- During the historic architectural survey within ducted an architectural resources survey of the the city limits of Greer, we identified 856 historic ar- City of Greer, South Carolina for the Planning and chitectural resources of which 11 are recommended Zoning division of the Building and Development individually eligible for listing in the NRHP. An ad- Standards Department and the South Carolina ditional two districts are recommended eligible for Department of Archives and History (SCDAH). listing in the NRHP. These include the Arlington- The City of Greer was awarded a Federal Historic Davenport-Mountain View Neighborhood and the Preservation Grant to expand its historic proper- Greer Mill and Village. The remaining resources ties survey. The objective of this survey was to add within the survey area are recommended not eli- to the inventory of recorded historic architectural gible for listing. resources within the City limits (survey area) that The activity that is the subject of this publication retain sufficient integrity to be included in the has been financed in part with Federal funds from South Carolina Statewide Survey of Historic Prop- the National Park Service (NPS), US Department of erties (SSHP) and to identify those properties and the Interior, and administered by SCDAH. However, districts that are eligible for listing in the National the contents and opinions do not necessarily reflect Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The resources the views or policies of NPS or SCDAH. evaluated included buildings, structures, objects, This rogramp receives Federal financial assis- districts, and landscapes that have architectural or tance for identification and protection of historic historical significance. The resulting survey prod- properties. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of ucts will assist the City and SCDAH with their on- 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, going commitment to preservation planning, pro- and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amend- motion of economic incentives for rehabilitation, ed, the US Department of the Interior prohibits heritage tourism development, education, and local discrimination on the basis of race, color, national compliance with state and federal preservation and origin, disability or age in its federally assisted pro- environmental laws. grams. If you believe you have been discriminated This rojectp is part of the South Carolina SSHP, against in any program, activity, or facility as de- a program coordinated by the South Carolina State scribed above, or if you desire further information Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). The purpose please write to: Office of Equal Opportunity, Na- of this statewide program is to identify all cultural tional Park Service, 1849 C Street, NW, Washington resources in the state and to highlight those that are DC, 20240. eligible for the NRHP and for local designation. The federal government has recommended this process of documentation through the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended. The Statewide Survey of Historic Properties provides the SHPO with information that enables it to review the effect of projects with federal components on resources eligible for the NRHP. Federal projects require envi- ronmental and cultural review permits to proceed, which in turn requires review by the SHPO. In addi- tion, some federal grants for cultural resources and certain federal tax incentives for rehabilitation of historic buildings require a determination of NRHP status. The information developed through the City of Greer Historic Resources Survey Update gives the SHPO a basis for making these determinations. iii iv Acknowledgments We would like to thank the City of Greer Planning and Zoning division of the Building and Development Standards Department and the City of Greer Board of Architectural Review for their support during the survey project. Also, we would like to thank Brad Sauls and Morgan Jones-King of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History for their guid- ance during the project. In addition, we would like to acknowledge the essential contribution of Joada Hiatt of the Greer Heritage Museum for providing a wealth of knowledge about the development of the City. We would also like to thank Rose Marie Jordan for sharing the products of her research on the City. Furthermore, we extend our sincere gratitude to all City of Greer residents who took interest in the proj- ect and shared their knowledge of the community and its built environment. v vi Table of Contents Abstract .....................................................................................................................................iii Acknowledgments .....................................................................................................................v List of Figures and Table ...........................................................................................................ix 1.0 Introduction .........................................................................................................................1 1.1 Name of Project .............................................................................................................1 1.2 Boundaries of Project ....................................................................................................1 1.3 Number of Resources ....................................................................................................1 1.4 Geographical Area .........................................................................................................1 1.5 Project Team ..................................................................................................................1 1.6 Beginning and End Dates of the Survey ........................................................................1 1.7 Objective of the Survey .................................................................................................3 1.8 Survey Methodology .....................................................................................................3 1.8.1 Historic Resources Survey ...................................................................................3 1.8.2 NRHP Assessment of Cultural Resources ............................................................5 2.0 Historical Overview ..............................................................................................................7 2.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................7 2.2 Contact Era and the Colonial Period .............................................................................7 2.3 Creation of Greenville and Spartanburg Counties .........................................................11 2.4 Antebellum Period and the Civil War .............................................................................12 2.5 Establishment of the Town of Greer and early settlement to 1895 ...............................16 2.6 Mill Villages and Development to 1895-1919 ................................................................22 2.7 Boom and Bust and Maturity 1920-1945 ......................................................................36 2.8 Post-World War II expansion, 1946-1977 .....................................................................44 3.0 Previously Identified Historic Architectural Resources ........................................................51 3.1 National Register Listed Historic Properties..................................................................51 3.2 Previously Recorded NRHP-Eligible Historic Properties ...............................................51 3.3 Previous Architectural Surveys within the Survey Area .................................................51 4.0 Survey Results .....................................................................................................................53 4.1 Residential Resources ...................................................................................................53 4.1.1 National Styles ......................................................................................................53 4.1.2 Folk House Types .................................................................................................61 4.2 Commercial Resources .................................................................................................65 4.3 Institutional Resources ..................................................................................................66 4.4 Transportation Resources .............................................................................................69 4.5 Manufacturing Resources .............................................................................................69 vii Table of Contents (continued) 5.0 Recommendations