SC town gets $2.5M to clean up site where historic Bloody Thursday took place. Here’s what to know

After about two decades, the small town of Honea Path has the money to clean up an abandoned textile mill property that was the site of one of South Carolina’s most deadly labor strikes.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a $2,650,770 grant for the cleanup at what once was Chiquola Mill. The state added a $1 million redevelopment grant.

The mill opened about a quarter mile from downtown Honea Path in 1903 to make coarse cotton sheeting.

In 1934, workers joined a general strike called by the National Textile Workers Union at mills throughout the East Coast to call attention to low pay and poor working conditions.

It is estimated 300 people gathered outside Chiquola Mill as just-deputized townspeople held shotguns, rifles and pistols. Dan Beacham, the mayor and the mill superintendent, mounted a World War I machine gun to the roof of the four-story mill.

By the end of the confrontation, seven men running away were dead from gunshots to the back, and 30 wounded. The day became known as Bloody Thursday or the Chiquola Mill Massacre.

The strike and its aftermath were rarely talked about through the years. Springs Industries bought the mill, which was the town’s largest employer until it closed in 2003.

The site still has remnants of the mill — a few tall brick structures, a one-story building and the smokestack.

Unhoused people have moved in and been rehoused. Fires started.

The body of a man was found a year ago in the basement.

Mayor Christopher Burton said he knows townspeople have been eager to see something done.

Most recently someone wanted to build a nursing home, but there was little interest from the community.

“The biggest issue has been money,” he said.

In fact, the town had to turn down a $1 million grant because it didn’t have the funds to finish the job.

Burton said it’s not yet known what might go on the site. Some years ago he asked townspeople in a survey the types of businesses they’d like to see. Coffee shop, sports bar and steakhouse were the top choices.

He expects to see interest in the property once it is cleared. The town has other grants to improve water and sewer systems.

Growth is coming its way from the burgeoning city of Simpsonville to the north.

Work should be under way in January and take six months.

“I ask people to be patient,” Burton said.