“He loved people, and people loved him”
By Rebecca Kilby, Digitization Librarian, South Carolina Room
Greenville County Library System
Greenville was in luck one hot July afternoon in 1904 when John White Arrington stepped off the train. He arrived to save a struggling textile plant, but came to serve the community with such devotion that his death was mourned by the whole city.
Though born in North Carolina in 1866, he was raised by his parents Samuel and Hannah Arrington in Virginia. Arrington started early in the business world, and before his 21st birthday was treasurer of one of the first cotton mills in the South, Old Dominion Cotton Mills. By the time he was 30, he had helped found Edna Cotton Mills in North Carolina and was serving as treasurer.
Meanwhile, a group of Northern investors headed by J.B and B.N. Duke chose Greenville as the site of the newly formed Union Bleaching and Finishing Company because of the thriving cotton mill industry, railroad access and an abundance of pure water. The location may have been prime, but there was one major flaw in their plan: The absentee Northern investors were not a part of the tight-knit community of Southern textile executives. By 1904, orders were so slow that employees could show up to work and find none waiting for them. With the $250,000 invested almost gone, the directors asked the prosperous Arrington to serve as treasurer and save the company.
Bringing the business home
Arrington quickly convinced the exclusively Northern investors that stock should be made available to Southern mill presidents and that the majority of the directors should be replaced by local textile executives. Having now made connections with the suppliers of the product they were to finish, Union Bleachery saw business pick up. By 1910, Arrington was president of the company, production capacity had increased by 50 percent, and the capital stock was up to $400,000.
Union Bleachery’s success continued over the next decade in spite of World War I. While most bleacheries and finishing companies struggled due to the necessary dyes being produced in Europe, farsighted Arrington stocked up on imported dyes on the eve of the conflict. By Armistice Day, the plant was ready to expand again, and within a few years Union Bleachery had a 40-million-yard capacity and was capitalized at $1.2 million.
Beloved for civic work
Outside of Union Bleachery, John Arrington served as president of the Greenville Chamber of Commerce and as a director of the Chamber of Commerce of the United States. He also served as a director of First National Bank, Textile Hall Corporation, Enoree Mills, Piedmont & Northern Railway, Poinsett Hotel, Great American Life Insurance Company and American Cotton Manufacturers Association, just to name a small handful of the companies and organizations with which he shared his business talent.
Although a very successful businessman, Arrington was most respected and beloved for his civic and social work. His sense of community responsibility went above and beyond the enlightened self-interest typical of the Progressive Era. As a friend wrote upon his death, “He helped people so naturally, spontaneously and without condescension that it never occurred to him or them that he was doing good from a sense of religious duty, to avoid labor trouble or for praise.”
A thriving mill village
Under his supervision, the mill village surrounding the plant thrived. As a longtime employee said, “If you got a job at Union Bleachery, you had it made.” Beyond the basics of housing, indoor plumbing, graded streets, churches and schools, cow pastures, pigpens and garden plots were available for employees who were formerly farmers. In addition to the usual baseball and basketball teams, a nine-hole golf course was constructed. A fishpond was dug and beautified with lily pads and a bridge. Arrington even employed a social service worker to organize women’s clubs, children’s activities, scout troops and more.
Despite working for the whole community, he never lost sight of the individual. His office was always open to those seeking advice or comfort. He made sure to learn all new hires’ names right away. When an employee’s medical bill was unaffordable, he appealed to the physician to reduce the bill. Union Bleachery even quietly operated a profit-sharing plan that gave employees an additional paycheck twice a year.
A community’s loss
The people of Union Bleachery loved their employer. As one example of their appreciation, the mill village Methodists wanted to name their new church Arrington Memorial, but he protested that he wasn’t dead yet and was “feeling fine.” So they named it St. John’s instead. (Today, it’s known as Arrington Memorial United Methodist Church.)
Beyond the mill village, he invested in the Greenville community as a whole. He was president of Kiwanis of Greenville and the Greenville Community Chest, plus a member of the Rotary Club. During World War I, his leadership of the Liberty Loan drive led Greenville to raise 78 percent over the quota. He also served as vestryman, warden and treasurer of Christ Church Episcopal.
John Arrington passed away in 1938 after several years of declining health. The whole community mourned the loss of one of its great citizens. A tribute published in the newspaper summed up his life well: “He did not measure success by the accumulation of worldly goods but rather by the service he could render to his church, his fellow man and the community. He loved people. And people loved him.”
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