TEXTILE HERITAGE PARK

An Article From UBJ About The Heritage Park:

After several years of planning, the Greenville Revitalization Corporation (GRC) has unveiled the final plans for the Textile Heritage Park, a 6-acre mixed-use park that aims to celebrate the textile history of Greenville County.

The park, which is going to be located on the old Monaghan Mill parking lot and across the street from the Lofts of Greenville, will feature a walking trail with 12 alcoves dedicated to the history of various Upstate mills.

“Once constructed, this new park is going to enhance the Monaghan community and help our effort to revitalize the surrounding area. It’s also going to be the Upstate’s only location dedicated to the history of the textile industry, which was once the economic engine of South Carolina,” said GRC board chairman Wil Brasington.

Textile Heritage Park will also include a recreation area and playground; a community garden; an outdoor classroom for study of the area’s natural wildlife and foliage; and about 80 parking spaces, according to Brasington.

Brasington said GRC has received more than $100,000 in grants and donations to fund the park, which is going to cost nearly $500,000. The corporation, for example, recently received a $30,000 grant from the John Smith I Charities that will fund the children’s playground in the park.

Last year, GRC received about $43,000 from the Greenville Textile Heritage Society for a Textile Museum designed to look like a 1930’s-era mill house. The society plans to maintain and curate the museum’s exhibits.

“We are so excited that Greenville will now have a lasting memorial to the great textile industry that once dominated the industrial climate of the entire upstate of South Carolina,” said Don Harkins, president of the Greenville Textile Heritage Society. “This joint venture with the GRC is a means to what was once a mere dream and now will become a reality.”