Oakland Mill

Front inscription

This textile mill, which began operation in 1912, was the third mill built in Newberry, after Newberry Cotton Mills (1885) and Mollohon Mill (1901). It was chartered in 1910 and built in 1911 with 20,000 spindles and 500 looms. The mill was designed by prominent textile mill architects Lockwood, Greene and Co. The Oakland Mill village began with the construction of 75 houses and grew to almost twice that number, with a school and three churches.

Reverse inscription

By 1925, when the mill was sold to the Kendall Co., there were 200 employees. The next year the mill village was called “one of the best and prettiest mill sites in the state.” By 1930 Oakland Mill had expanded to 30,000 spindles and 600 looms. Other major expansions followed in the 1950s and 1960s. The mill closed in 2008. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2011, it has since been renovated for Newberry College student housing.