Dunean Mill

Front inscription

Dunean Mill, chartered in 1911 and opened in 1912, was one of several textile mills owned by Capt. Ellison Adger Smyth (1847-1942), a national leader in the textile industry for more than 60 years. Dunean was named for the Irish village where Smyth’s Adger ancestors lived. The mill, called “the Million Dollar Mill” while it was being built by J.E. Sirrine & Company, was an all-electric mill with 50,000 spindles and 1,200 looms when it opened, making fine cotton goods.

Reverse inscription

The light gray brick and black mortar of this mill gives it a distinctive look unlike almost any other textile mill of its era. The Dunean Mill village included 585 houses, an elementary school, three churches, a company store, a community building, a gymnasium, and a baseball field. Its Y.W.C.A. was the first in any mill village in S.C. In 1935 the mill switched to rayon and other synthetic fibers. It was for many years a division of J.P. Stevens & Company.