"G" is for Gregg, William (1800-1867)

"G" is for Gregg, William (1800-1867). Manufacturer. Industrial promoter. Gregg made his fortune as an importer of fancy goods and jewelry in Charleston. In 1844, he toured the leading manufacturing centers of the Northeast. Returning to Charleston he wrote a series of articles that evolved into a pamphlet, Essays on Domestic Industry. In these widely circulated publications, Gregg called on the South to invest in manufacturing and end its reliance on staple agriculture—and made him widely known among the South’s leading industrial advocates. In 1845 he and several partners secured a charter from the General Assembly to establish the Graniteville Manufacturing Company. Capitalized at $300,000, the mill was erected on the banks of Horse Creek in Edgefield District. William Gregg’s Graniteville factory quickly became one of the South’s most successful textile factories.