Pelham Mill was the first textile mill in Greenville County, and its site was used for textile manufacturing from 1820 to 1935. The first mill was built in 1820 by Rev. Tomas Hutchings of Rhode Island on land he bought from Charles Dean, who had received a South Carolina land grant of 167 acres on the north side of the Enoree River on November 30, 1798. Dean sold the land to Hutchings on February 29, 1820. The Buena Vista Cotton Factory, also called the Hutchings Factory, had 144 spindles and burned in 1825. Before 1830, Josiah Kilgore and Phillip C. Lester took over the title, and Lester later bought out Kilgore and operated the Lester Factory until it was destroyed by fire in 1853. The Mill Office is believed to have been constructed in 1870. On February 2, 1880, Pelham Manufacturing Co. purchased 303.5 acres, a cotton factory, a grist mill, and other property of George W. Lester at public auction held by US Marshall Robert W. Wallace for $13,400 after Lester and Brothers had declared bankruptcy, primarily because they had not modernized as other local cotton mills did. In 1882, the name was changed to the Pelham Factory at Lester's Bridge, and it had 60 employees and 2,032 spindles. The mortared stone dam spanning the Enoree River, built with six sluice gates in the 1880's, and the current dam were built between 1880 and 1890, while Rocky Field Creek runs north to south through the mill site. The 1890 flood damaged the mill office, which was then moved to the east side of Highway 14. By 1907, the mill had 300 employees, 10,752 spindles, and processed 4,359 bales of cotton. In 1919, its water-powered machinery was supplemented with steam-powered machinery. The mill closed in 1935 with 11,112 spindles, the vacant mill was destroyed in 1943, the Mill Office served as the Pelham Post Office from the late 1930's until 1996, and on September 11, 2002, the Mill Office was moved to its current site to make room for the enlargement of Highway 14.