South Carolina Hall Of Fame: William Gregg

Considered the father of the textile industry in South Carolina, William Gregg was born in 1800 in what is now West Virginia. In 1824, he moved to Columbia and established a successful jewelry and silver business. His belief that the state relied too heavily on agriculture led him to advocate cotton manufacturing. In 1864, he began building the Graniteville Manufacturing Company in Edgefield District, which became a model for southern cotton manufacturing, and an institution for the first organized welfare work in a southern factory community.