Falls Park on the Reedy River was built in 2004 on the site of the area’s first European settlement. Like many towns that developed in the 1800’s, Greenville relied heavily upon its river for trade, industry, and sustenance, but that industrial reliance ultimately led to the river’s pollution. Multiple bankside grist mills contributed to environmental issues that the city and its partners set out to remedy in the 1900’s. With the changing economies of the 1950’s and the loss of production to worldwide markets, Greenville’s industry collapsed, and the town turned its back on the Reedy River. By the late 1980’s the waterfall was covered in vegetation and shaded by the four-lane vehicular Camperdown Bridge. In the 1900’s, thanks to the vision of elected city leadership and community activists, the idea to revitalize the forgotten waterfall began to take shape. The newly envisioned Falls Park was designed to transform the river from a forgotten place into a globally recognized park and serve as a catalyst for the economic revitalization of Greenville’s downtown. Designed by landscape architects Andrea Mains and Thomas Keith, with the leadership of Mayor Knox White and the Carolina Foothills Garden Club, the 12-acre park transformed forgotten mills, the first built in 1817 and the last abandoned in 1956, into scenic overlooks, with their original foundations still visible throughout the park. An under-utilized four-lane vehicular bridge was demolished in 2003, and the soaring Liberty Bridge, designed by Miguel Rosales, took its place. Today, Falls Park is an iconic part of Greenville’s resilient downtown.