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James C. Self took a rundown cotton mill and turned it
into what has been called "The Greenwood Story," and his is one of the most
notable success stories in South Carolina history.
James Cuthbert Self was born July 1, 1876, the son of Dr. James Anderson and
Mary "Callie" Holloway Self. He grew up on a farm in Edgefield County. His
father, a country doctor, died at an early age, leaving a widow and three
sons. |
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In 1893, Self was a member of the first class at Clemson
College. To help support himself at Clemson, he dug ditches for 8 cents an hour.
When four bales of cotton, raised on the family farm, brought less than $100 in
1894, he realized he could not return to college, and he also made a decision to
leave farming.
Self clerked in a rural store, where he earned only $8 a month, but he saved
enough money to attend business school in Virginia. The business course
completed, Self returned to Greenwood and eventually became cashier of the Bank
of Greenwood. |
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In 1908, at the age of 31, he took over the debt-ridden
Greenwood Cotton Mill. Self faced the problem of salvaging a mill being operated
under a debt greater than the mill's value. Looms needed to be replaced, and
preparation and spinning equipment needed to be modernized.
Draper Corporation of Hopesdale, Massachusetts, had developed and refined
automatic looms, as well as the first automatic bobbin-changing loom. So Self
made arrangements to visit the Draper Corporation. He met with Eben Draper, then
governor of Massachusetts, who was substituting for his brother, George, the
company's manager. |
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Eben Draper listened intently while Self explained the
dire need for the looms. The talks ran so long that Draper suggested they have
dinner in his home. At the end of the evening, Draper said, "Your collateral is
worthless, but I'll take a chance on your integrity. Give your specifications to
our engineers tomorrow."
An elated Self returned to Greenwood and began preparing for the arrival of
the new machinery. But George Draper wrote to Self and explained that there
would be no machinery without good, hard collateral. |
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Self took the first train back to see George Draper,
who had broken his brother's pledge of assistance. Although widely recognized
for austerity in his business dealings, Draper was persuaded by the vigor and
enthusiasm of his visitor. Self explained to Draper, "Your brother on my last
visit here promised to let us have the looms, and in the South, sir, we do what
we promise." Draper finally agreed to let Self have several hundred new, wide
Draper looms. As one editorial writer expressed it, with that successful deal,
Self had set the stage for a career that led him "from the days of dark
adversity in the difficult years before the turn of the 20th Century to the
pinnacle in the industrial world." |
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Self's talent for placing the right people in the right
jobs and his persistence and honesty in equipping the mill with new looms,
obtained on credit, proved to be the catalyst that kept Greenwood Cotton Mill
alive and made The Greenwood Story possible.
Under his direction, a second textile plant was reopened in Greenwood, and
plants in Ninety Six and Greenwood were purchased. Self's sound business
practices allowed the company to weather the Great Depression, and in 1935, when
most textile plants were in trouble, his mills were running three shifts a
day. |
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In 1942, Self created The Self Foundation, primarily to
build a hospital for Greenwood residents. Self Memorial Hospital was dedicated
in 1951 and today is considered one of the finest in South Carolina. The
foundation has broadened its scope, principally in the health care and higher
education areas, and by 1999 had made grants of more than $32 million,
principally in South Carolina. |
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The 1950s were years of growth and expansion for
Greenwood Mills, and two new plants were built in Greenwood. The first, a 100
percent filament plant, was built in 1950; the second, a print cloth facility,
was completed in 1953. It was the last plant built during Self's lifetime. |
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Many honors came to Self. One of the most notable was the
Man of the South award in 1952. Robert C. Jackson, executive vice president of
the American Textile Manufacturers Institute and principal speaker at the
presentation, said of Self:
"The true measure of Mr. Self's success is not alone what he has been able to
do with spindles and looms and mills, but what he has been able to do for
people—the people who work with him and for him, the people of his community and
this state and this Southland." |
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In 1951, 58 years after he entered its first class,
Clemson College awarded him an honorary doctoral degree. The following year, he
received an honorary degree from the University of South Carolina. In 1948, the
Greenwood Chamber of Commerce named him its Man of the Year; in 1949 the
Greenwood Lions Club named him Man of the Year; and the Ninety Six Lions Club
chose him as First Citizen. |
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He was married to the former Lura Mathews, and they were
the parents of a son, James C. Self, Jr.. James Cuthbert Self died July 21,
1955. |
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He was inducted into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame in
1986. |
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