The Orr Cotton Mill was established in Anderson in 1899 by Colonel James Lawrence Orr, Jr. Thanks to the Portman Shoals Generator, Orr Cotton Mill became the first textile mill in the South to use only electricity from a remote commercial generator to power its plant. In 1909, 650 employees were operating more than 57,000 spindles and 1,500 looms; by 1930, the mill had grown to 750 employees operating over 60,000 spindles. The mill was acquired by New York-based textile business, the M. Lowenstein Company, in 1946.
Residential homes for mill workers perviously owned by the mill were sold to employees in 1949 in keeping with the M. Lowenstein Company’s policy of providing affordable home ownership to its workers. In 1958 the mill added a synthetics division. That division of the mill was called Lyons Mill for John Lyons, who had served as mill superintendent from its first days through the 1950s and then as president of the company beginning in 1960. In 1986 Orr-Lyons Mill was acquired by Springs Industries; the mill closed in 1990.
The mill property was purchased in 2005 by North Carolina developer Mike Harmon. Although it had operated for over a century – and even survived a tornado in 1924 (see photo above) – Harmon demolished the mill almost immediately after he purchased it, with materials from the 1899 warehouse being salvaged and reused in other building projects. However, Harmon left the smokestack intact as an historical reminder of the landmark textile mill.
Thank you for taking time to share this information. I am the Captain at Homeland Park Fire Department. We are in the process of building a new fire station. The station will have a community room for the public. We are very interested in decorating this room with the history of our area. Unfortunately as a younger generation we do not have many photos or information. Would you be interested in helping?
Thank you,
Phillip Wood
864-844-1072
Phillip, I think this is a lovely idea! I am going to contact one of our board members who has taken extensive photos of the Anderson area. He is also a fellow firefighter, and I am sure he will be glad to help. His name is Bill Segars, and I will pass your info on to him. 🙂
Orr Lyons had 60,000 spindles, not 60,000 looms. I worked at the plant several years, then to Wamsutta, and then to Olympia as Superintendent.
Thank you for the correction; we will update this! Do you have any other memories/stories you’d like to share about your time working there? We would love to hear them if so. Our email address is share@scpictureproject.org.
Born and raised at Orr Mill. Lived at 28 Harris Street, next to the park, swimming pool, milked and slopped our own cows and hogs. Played basketball over the company store, had black face shows over the company store. Had the best years of my life at Orr and my father, Uncle Charlie as he was known, was a supervisor in the card room. He died at age 98. I am his son, Cecil, my age now is 89, my wife Mildred had a stroke and her funeral was Jan. 2, 2017. My brothers were Clifton, Jack, Jesse D, Billy, Cecil, and Douglas. My mother was Lucy Mattie Craft.