Monaghan Mill

Front: Lewis Wardlaw Parker (1865-1916) and Thomas Fleming Parker (1860-1926) established Monaghan Mill in 1900 and named it in memory of their grandfather’s native county in Ireland. Located along the Reedy River, the mill was designed by the firm of Lockwood, Greene & Co. When it opened in 1901 it contained 25,000 spindles. By the end of the decade it had expanded to 60,000 spindles and employed 700 workers, many of whom lived in the nearby mill village. Reverse: In 1904 Thomas Parker built a Young Men’s Christian Association (Y.M.C.A.) at Monaghan. L.P. Hollis (1883-1978), a long-time director of the Monaghan Y.M.C.A., introduced basketball at Monaghan and founded the Southern Textile Basketball Tournament, hosted annually in Greenville from 1921-1996. After operating for 100 years, Monaghan Mill closed in 2001. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.