At one time, more American flags were printed in Rock Hill, S.C. than in any place in the world. The Rock Hill Printing and Finishing Company, which opened in 1929, was one of the largest cloth printing and finishing companies in the United States and the center of that patriotic production during World War II. It was also, says Stephen Turner, \u201cthe biggest business concern that has ever existed in the city of Rock Hill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Called The Bleachery, because bleaching cloth is the first stage in the printing process, the company employed almost 5,000 people at its height in the mid 1960s \u2013 a third of the town\u2019s adult population \u2013 and thus \u201cplayed an outsized role in the life of the community,\u201d Turner says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bleachery closed in the 1990s, but Turner, who is the retired director of Economic and Urban Development for the City of Rock Hill and a self-described \u201clocal history buff,\u201d felt that the company\u2019s economic and geographic prominence (it sat in the middle of town) warranted ongoing recognition that would preserve the history beyond living memory. After years of planning and hard work, The Bleachery Heritage Project is finally coming to fruition through a design and fabrication process led by Associate Professor of Architecture Rachel Dickey with a team of architecture students and collaborators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2020 Dickey won the commission to design a plaza in what is now called University Center, because of its proximity to Winthrop University, after Turner successfully secured an Our Town Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and matching funds from the city. He and an advisory committee that included former Bleachery employees chose Dickey\u2019s design through a Request for Proposals process that drew submissions from across the Southeast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUltimately the team was impressed with Rachel\u2019s concepts,\u201d Turner says. \u201cShe built 3D models and brought them to the interviews. Rachel\u2019s concept was to really activate the space, invite people into the space. I don\u2019t think any of the other proposals had that thought. Everybody loved her design.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n