Volume 8, Issue 3- Fall Edition | 2024

New Fort Mill Schools Have a Connection with History

Sharing much the same dilemma as the old woman who lived in the shoe, Fort Mill has so many schools we don’t know what to name them. The addition of a new middle school, a new elementary school and an early childhood learning center will mean that Fort Mill has a total of twenty-three schools (3 high schools, 7 middle schools, 12 elementary schools and an early childhood center.)

Beyond finding land and the funds for the much-needed schools, finding names and mascots for each school presents its own problems. When the school district sent out a call for suggestions for schools and names, Carol Case and other History Research Team members looked into the region’s history and provided data for the area. They took up the challenge of suggesting names and Mascots that were both historical and appropriate.

The planned Early Childhood Center will honor Fort Mill’s historic George Fish School, the first school dedicated to Fort Mill’s black community. The George Fish Early Childhood Center mascot will be the Dolphin and its colors will be blue and gold. The colors and the mascot are the same as the original George Fish School. The representatives from the district reached out to several alumni of the original George Fish School for input.

The newest middle school will take its name from the Flint Hill Community. In 1915, Flint Hill Baptist Church created a small school beside the church and the New Flint Hill Middle School will honor that early school. The Flint Hill Middle School mascot will be the Red Fox. While not native to the region, the Red Fox was introduced into the area in the 1700’s by hunters from the north and from England. The school colors will be red, black and white.

Flint Hill Elementary School will adjoin the middle school and have as its mascot the Cubs, one of several names for young foxes. The school colors will be red and silver.

The names, mascots and colors for the three schools were introduced to the school board by Assistant Superintendent Grey Young, who recognized Carol Case and the Fort Mill History Museum for researching and helping name the newest additions to the Fort Mill School District. The museum was honored to be part of this process and to know that history played such a role in the decision.

Full Video Here

Article Here

Mike & Cheryl Hill

FMHM History Research Team

If you are already a member and would like to RSVP for one of these events, please be on the lookout for a members only email coming soon. Please email ataylor@fmhm.org for questions about these events.

Valuable Little Hands:

History of Child Labor in Textile Mills

Believe it or not, children have a rich history intertwined with Fort Mill and South Carolina’s industrial past. Following the Civil War (1861-1865), the textile industry, based partially on child labor, was responsible for bringing many southern families out of poverty. As early as 1900, according to the U. S. Census, the Fort Mill Manufacturing Company (FMMC) employed 113 children under the age of 15, some as young as seven years old.

South Carolina’s rapidly growing textile industry drove a need to hire farmers, day laborers and other townsfolk in great numbers. Often these folks brought their family members in for work at the mills, which introduced child labor to the textile industry. Mill owners and supervisors found children to be easily trained and directed. Some households could have as many as ten children who worked at the mill. Orphans or children of widowed mothers who had no support also found jobs with the mill.

Textile mill jobs were named for the machine each worker attended. Thus, the workers were called spinners, weavers, doffers, spoolers, sweepers or quillers.  These repetitive jobs required small, nimble fingers and children were well suited to perform the quick, repetitive tasks required in a mill environment. In a few months, an adept child of ten might perform these duties as well as an adult. For example, a twelve-year-old girl in the weave room could expect to earn more money in one year than her tenant-farmer father.

Younger children not employed traveled back and forth to the mill to bring meals to their parents or siblings  Older working children were often allowed ‘breaks’ to bring infant nursing siblings to their mother working at the mill.

Fort Mill did not have a “mill school”, as in Lancaster and Chester. Fort Mill area children attended the Fort Mill Graded School. Captain Samuel E White, the president of the FMMC also served as president of the school. White and other conscientious mill presidents at the time wrestled with the issues of balancing a child’s education against economic pressures for struggling families.

In 1884-1889, children comprised up to one quarter of the textile labor force. At the same time efforts were underway to abolish child labor. Many of those who contested these efforts saw child labor as a ‘family matter’ that kept children ‘out of trouble,’ since they were often working 12-hour days, six days a week. In 1903, as the South continued to strongly debate child labor issues, the South Carolina legislature passed a law banning the employment of children less than ten years of age in a factory, mine or mill. This same legislation also mandated that by 1905, the age would increase to 12. However, these laws did not eliminate child labor. In compliance with the laws, parents provided affidavits (not always accurate) to verify their children’s ages. To work their way around the law, some families would list the eldest child as the worker and all wages from younger working siblings would go to that child in order to eliminate younger children from the list of workers.

Regardless, the children of the cotton mill communities benefitted from the compulsory school attendance laws, and legislation limiting child labor to eight hours per day, which brought with it a more enlightened awareness of human growth and development to the public. Captain White and his son-in-law, Leroy Springs (who succeeded Captain White as president of the FMMC) were supporters of this legislation.

Early in the 20^th century, child labor practices resulted in generations of uneducated and illiterate children. Thankfully, improving economic conditions drove a gradual change in parents and mill owners’ thoughts on the issue of child labor. In 1911, the South Carolina Cotton Manufacturers proposed a bill, which eliminated night work for those under sixteen.

Between 1907 and 1929, the FMMC, experienced a significant change in the makeup of the cotton mill’s workforce. Throughout the debate on child labor, FMMC owners, Captain Samuel E White and Leroy Springs were on record as favoring a compulsory school attendance law. In support of the law, salary advances and financial assistance at the mill store were offered for workers who reported their children did not attend school because they could not afford children’s shoes, clothing or the cost of books. Efforts were also made to allow for after school and part-time positions for children that were of school age.

After World War I (1914-1918), the use of child labor dwindled. More sophisticated machinery required adult strength, skill and experience. Throughout the 1930s and ‘40s, more women entered the work force and wages gradually improved. These trends, along with required education laws, drove a reduction in the employment of children.

Not all mills across the South were lucky enough to have owners that favored child labor laws. The issue of child labor and our community leaders’ efforts to support these measures is embedded in our rich local history. Yet another thing we can be proud of!

Full Article

Carol Case

FMHM History Research Team

FMHM Receives SCSBA's Champions for Public Education Award

On May 22, 2024 the museum was honored to be recognized by the Fort Mill School District. At the FMSD Board meeting the museum was awarded the SCSBA's (South Carolina School Board) Champions for Public Education Award. This award was given to recognize the programs, presentations, partnership, and the collaboration that the museum does to help educate the students about Fort Mill history. Click Here to view the entire award presentation. We are grateful to have such a strong partnership with the FMSD so that we can educate our youth and instill the importance of history in future generations.  

Discover What Your Membership Can Do for You!

Becoming a member of the Fort Mill History Museum comes with many benefits. In addition to supporting the museum, here are three membership benefits that our members receive:

1. Invitation to Member Only Events - After a successful Hometown Hero tour in May, the museum will be offering several more member only events in the upcoming months. Stay Tuned!
2. Access to Early Ticket Sales - For several of our annual events, tickets have sold out. Our members receive early access to purchase tickets for selected events.
3. A Fort Mill History Museum membership, at the Enthusiast level or above, includes a membership to the North American Reciprocal Museum (NARM) Association. NARM gives you the opportunity to explore over 1,100 museums and cultural institutions across the country at a free or discounted rate. Check out this link for more information: https://narmassociation.org/

To see other membership benefits or to become a member, please visit our website.

Cora Dunlap Lyles, one of our members, utilized her NARM benefit and recently visited the International African American Museum in Charleston. She wanted to share her experience with our community.

Hello Fort Mill Friends, I recently visited the International African American Museum. It is a new and increasingly popular museum in Charleston and I was glad to see they were a member of NARM.

The International African American Museum is a museum of African American history in Charleston, South Carolina, located at a former shipping wharf where approximately 40% of the nation's enslaved persons disembarked. It is located at Gadsden’s Wharf, a place of tragedy and death in the past, but one of pilgrimage and reconciliation today. The museum opened June 27, 2023, after 20 years of planning. Its mission is to “To honor the untold stories of the African American journey at one of our country’s most sacred sites.”

This is a museum where you can create your own experience—from quiet reflection in the African Ancestors Memorial Garden to an immersive, eye-opening tour through our galleries to transformative discoveries in the Center for Family History.

The museum offers an interactive experience. Some displays invite guests to touch and feel. There is a section dedicated to exploring your ancestry and recording your personal family history. Please visit the museum. You will be enriched.

And lastly, there are several other notable museums in the Charleston area including, Fort Sumter National Monument, the Nathaniel Russell House, the Charleston Museum, the Old Exchange & Provost Dungeon, the Old Slave Mart Museum and the Museum at Market Hall. To learn more about the museums and other historical attractions that the Holy City has to offer, please visit: https://www.charlestoncvb.com/. Another valuable resource is Charleston's Museum Mile. This mile stretch includes museums, historical houses, parks, public buildings, and places of worship. More information can be found here: https://www.charlestonsmuseummile.org/

I hope my experience will encourage you to join FMHM. Supporting FMHM, a NARM member, will open up museum doors all over the country for you and your family. 

Cora Dunlap Lyles

FMHM History Research Team Member

Looking to help out the museum? Check out our Amazon wish list of items that are needed!

Giving to your local museum ensures that your dollars stay in your community along with supporting programs for you, our children and our neighbors. Please consider giving to help us enjoy more programs and activities and improve our quality of life.

The Fort Mill History Museum has received a wonderful donation from Wink Whitley of a Catawba pottery pitcher. Wink worked for Ms. DesPortes prior to 2010 and found the pitcher while cleaning her basement. He received the pitcher from Ms. DesPortes as payment for the work he did. He kept it in a personal artifact collection for many years before deciding that it should be cared for in a museum. He met with Carson Cope, our Collections Manager, to donate it to us in 2024. We can't wait to learn more about this artifact.

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The Fort Mill History Museum is a proud member of

NARM, AASLH, CSCLHS, SETS, & SFEA