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Clifton and Glendale Communities |
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The first large
mill in the district was constructed about 50 years after the Revolutionary
War. The man at the center of the development was Dr. James Bivings, who came
to the area from Lincolnton, North Carolina, about 1832. The mill contained
1,200 spindles and 24 looms, and its power was produced by an overshot
waterwheel of “26 foot diameter and 12 foot breast.” The community took the name Bivingsville.
Records indicate that the mill was sold for $19,500 in
bankruptcy proceedings in 1856. A group that included Dexter Edgar Converse
bought the mill. Converse was chosen as manager of the mill. After the Civil War, Converse became the
principal owner of the property. In
1880, apparently at the urging of Converse’s wife, Helen, the name of the
village was changed from Bivingsville to Glendale.
In the 1880s, D.E. Converse & Company bought property on the
Pacolet River and expanded beyond the mill at Glendale. In 1881, the first mill of Clifton
Manufacturing Company was opened. In
1889, Clifton Mill No. 2 began operation about three-fourths of a mile below
No. 1.
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The shoals on Lawson Fork Creek above the Glendale Mill. |
Sources:
Photographs by Kacie C.
Postcards from The
Postcard History, Spartanburg, South Carolina
by Jeffrey R. Willis
Information from
Glendale, A Pictorial History
by Michael Hembree and Paul Crocker