The Enterprise Mill is a historical residential and office complex along the
Augusta Canal
The Augusta Canal is a historic canal located in Augusta, Georgia, United States. The canal is fed by the Savannah River and passes through three levels (approximately total) in suburban and urban Augusta before the water returns to the river at v ...
in
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...
. Enterprise is located at the corner of
Greene Street and
15th Street.
Revitalization
Enterprise Mill is one of the city's prime historic
landmark
A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances.
In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...
s. In 1983,
Graniteville Company Graniteville may refer to the following places in the United States:
* Graniteville, California, a town
* Graniteville, Connecticut a historic district
* Graniteville, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Graniteville, Staten Island, New York, ...
shut down the facility and closed. During the mid and late 1980s, the city originally planned to demolish the aging building at the time, which lasted for 10 years,
but city officials later wanted to redevelop the building. A major renovation took place in 1995 as part of the downtown redevelopment. The building remained vacant for another 3 years until in 1998, when developers re-purposed the building into offices and
lofts. It is one of the perfect examples of redevelopment in a
decaying urban area.
History
Enterprise Mill was developed by James L. Coleman in 1845 and the building opened in 1848 as a
flour mill.
Originally, Coleman wanted to build it on his
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
, but the city council of Augusta granted a fund to build a canal to supply power, which would ultimately be the creation of the Augusta Canal. Between 1872 and 1875, the Augusta Canal was enlarged and several
industrialist
A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...
s came to the area to build facilities around the canal. Much of the original mill, built in grey
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
brick, is still standing today, though the bulk of what is recognizable today as the Enterprise Mill was built in red brick in 1877. Like all the great mills of Augusta, it is built on the Augusta Canal. In 1923 the Graniteville Company acquired the mill and eventually added the large red sign bearing the company name atop the structure. The sign still stands today and is most noticeable at night when it glows bright red.
Though for most of its existence the mill was used for various manufacturing ventures, in 1983 the mill ceased operations and closed its doors. For many years it was assumed that the structure would be demolished, but in the mid-1990s the Mill underwent a massive overhaul and was converted into apartments and retail and office spaces. The Enterprise Mill stands as today as an example of the revitalization of downtown Augusta that began in the 1990s.
See also
*
Augusta Canal
The Augusta Canal is a historic canal located in Augusta, Georgia, United States. The canal is fed by the Savannah River and passes through three levels (approximately total) in suburban and urban Augusta before the water returns to the river at v ...
References
External links
*
Augusta, Georgia, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary*
{{Coord, 33.47748, -81.9819, type:landmark_region:US-GA, display=title
Augusta Canal National Heritage Area
Buildings and structures in Augusta, Georgia
Flour mills in the United States
Grinding mills in Georgia (U.S. state)
Historic American Engineering Record in Georgia (U.S. state)
History of Augusta, Georgia
Landmarks in Georgia (U.S. state)