Bridge No: 0270080900100

Asset ID: 1668

County: Aiken

Facility Carried: S-2-809 (Marshall Street)

Feature Intersected: Big Horse Creek

Year Built: 1950

Main Structure Type: steel stringer

Design: Continuous

Main Material: Steel

Railing Type: 2 rail high concrete railings/pipe railings

Number of Main Spans: 2

Structure Length: 48 feet

Structure Width: 33.4 feet

Setting: The bridge carries a 2-lane street and sidewalks over a stream in Graniteville between the original and expanded portions of the large mill complex.The area of Graniteville that includes the earliest portions of the textile mill and housing are an NHL-listed historic district (NHL 1978) with a 1845-1867 period of significance.This is the section of the village established by William Gregg, and it represents the region's "first typical Southern cotton mill village."

The 2 span, 48'-long steel stringer bridge has 2 rail high concrete railings separating the roadway from the cantilevered sidewalks with 2 rail high pipe railings.The bridge is supported on concrete abutments and a 2 column concrete bent. The sidewalks appear to be a later addition by evidence of the extended wingwalls and steel pipes used to support the sidewalk at mid span.Prior to the construction of this bridge, the creek was crossed by a pedestrian bridge that was much narrower than the street.

The steel stringer bridge was built in 1950 as part of the 1949-1950 expansion of the Gregg Dye Mill complex of the historic Graniteville Mill.The Gregg Dye Mill is located on the north side of Marshall Street.The bridge is not individually significant.It would be a contributing resource to an appropriately expanded historic district that includes all of the resources associated with the mill with a period of significance that reflects its 20th century historic significance as a mill.The mill grew and prospered through the 19th century and the first six decades of the 20th century. The company remained viable through at least the 1950s, and it represents the change from natural to synthetic yarns after World War II.A revised period of significance and enumeration of contributing resources may extend to 1983, when Granite Mills was initially sold.The 1950 bridge would be a contributing resource to the expanded historic district, which was recommended in the 1986 Aiken County West survey.A train wreck and ensuing fire damaged the mill in January, 2005, and it closed for good in 2006. Graniteville is a long lived and remarkably complete southern textile mill that is both representative of the history of the industry in the state.It is a seminally important resource, and the Marshall Street bridge is part of that history. The mill has been well documented by the Historic American Engineering Record (SC-2).