Before it was the Greenville Convention Center, the building bearing that name was simply Textile Hall.
Textile manufacturing formed the bedrock of South Carolina’s economy for most of the 20th century, and Greenville with its Textile Hall was the epicenter of that industry’s influence.
Recognizing the industry’s importance to the city and the region, textile magnates in 1917 commissioned the first Textile Hall on West Washington Street in Greenville’s downtown at a cost of about $130,000.
It opened in October of that year in time for the first Southern Textile Exposition to showcase products, processes and machinery driving the Southeast’s burgeoning textile industry.
Industry worthies who would leave their names on a number of area landmarks included J.E. Sirrine and W.G. “Bill” Sirrine as well as James H. Woodside.
Over successive decades, Textile Hall hosted nearly annual textile expositions showcasing the impact of the industry and welcoming exhibitors and visitors from dozens of countries.
By the early 1960s, the expositions had become so successful and grown to such an extent that the downtown Textile Hall was deemed inadequate.
In 1964 with an investment of $1.5 million, a new 187,000-square-foot Textile Hall rose from the ground off North Pleasantburg Drive near the downtown airport in time to draw a crowd of 40,000 for the 23rd Southern Textile Exposition.
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From the outset, the new Textile Hall would welcome more than textile events and in 1965 hosted the Greenville Auto Show, the first event open to the public in the new building.
Textile expositions and industry gatherings would continue to play a central role in the building’s function for another 20 years. The industry’s gradual collapse due, in part, to textile manufacturing moving overseas, opened the door wider for the facility to be used for other purposes.
In the 1980s, the facility pivoted further away from its textile roots and became the Palmetto International Exposition Center, a rebranding effort that culminated in 2018 with its naming as the Greenville Convention Center.
While textile expositions have become a relic of the past, the textile industry left Greenville with a more than 500,000-square-foot complex able to serve a variety of roles.
Cold War flashback
The third American Textile Machinery Exhibition-International in 1976 held in Textile Hall featured a delegation of more than 20 trade representatives from the Soviet Union, including a minister for light industry.
Bowling bonanza
The GCC scored its largest-ever event in venue history in July of this year when it announced the U.S. Bowling Congress championships would be hosted in Greenville from March through July 2028.
Price point
For the Piedmont Exposition of Progress held in May 1977, it cost a business $300 to rent a 225-square-foot exhibit booth. The same space cost a nonprofit $50 for the four-day event.
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