History Remarks
JOHN D. HOLLINGSWORTH
John D. Hollingsworth Jr., an only child, was born in Atlanta, Georgia on December 26, 1917. His family moved to Greenville when he was a very young age.
Mr. Hollingsworth’s grandfather, Pinckney, started a business of repairing textile carding machines in 1894 using a mule drawn wagon on which was mounted a lathe and other tools, and traveling from mill to mill to do the repairs. After his grandfather’s death, Mr. Hollingsworth’s father, John D. Hollingsworth, carried on the business using the name, John D. Hollingsworth by Himself. In 1919, Mr. Hollingsworth’s father traded in his wagon for a truck, a 1917 Model Signal, with solid rubber tires and a 4-cylinder Red Seal Continental engine. At the age of 10, the young Hollingsworth started accompanying his father on trips to the mills and over the years learned how to make the repairs, becoming familiar with textile machinery, his work blending with every day life.
The garage behind the family’s modest five-room house on Oregon Street was the base for his father’s business. Mr. Hollingsworth’s mother prepared breakfast and lunch for the few employees. As Hollingsworth grew older he became more active in the business. He also had a newspaper route as a youth and later remarked how difficult it was to collect from his customers. Mr. Hollingsworth was a graduate of Greenville High School where he became a friend of Red Hughes, who later became a prominent real estate developer in Greenville. A Greenville High yearbook from this era showed Mr. Hollingsworth was homeroom president and a member of the drama club. He enrolled at Furman University during the late 1930s but left after one year stating that his father needed him in the family business. At that point, his father changed the name of the business to John D. Hollingsworth and Son on Wheels. His father died in February 1942 and Mr. Hollingsworth and his mother inherited the business.
After his father’s death, the then 25-year old Hollingsworth hired an office manager from Woodside Mills in Simpsonville to assist with the operation of the business. In January 1944, he received his first U.S. patent for an invention that allowed textile machinery to better process synthetic fibers. The next month he was drafted into the Navy. In March, he married his employee and left her to run the business while he was away. Mr. and Mrs. Hollingsworth had one child, a daughter.
After his return from the war, Hollingsworth decided that the workshop on Oregon Street was too small and bought property on Laurens Road for the shop, which also included a modest brick home. He continued to expand his business and in the 1950's perfected the carding of metallic cloth which revolutionized the textile carding process. The results of this new process were greatly increased speed and improvement in the quality of the yarn. Mills that converted to carding metallic cloth could significantly reduce the number of carding machines required and the number of workers to operate them. As is often repeated, “Build a better mousetrap and the world will come to your door.” With his metallic wire and increased speed successes, Hollingsworth had become the industry’s preeminent name for improving card-room technology. Textile companies came knocking on his door wanting his expertise applied to their card rooms. As further means of expanding his business, Mr. Hollingsworth began purchasing used cards and completely rebuilding them. These two products greatly increased sales and profits, and contributed to his wealth.
One of the reasons for the success of the business was the excellent service Mr. Hollingsworth offered his customers. He maintained a large fleet of tractor-trailers, mobile vans and automobiles with a large garage to maintain them. His trucks did not show the company’s name but instead bore the image of the U.S. flag. He also had an aviation department, hangar and pilots, which at one time had six planes including a King Air. The planes were used to fly technicians to textile mills in the southeast.
In addition to plants in Greenville and Easley, South Carolina, at one time Mr. Hollingsworth owned plants in Brazil, Germany, Spain, Mexico, England and Sweden. To ensure his customers received excellent service, he maintained service centers in Canada, Massachusetts, Alabama and Texas.
Over a period of approximately forty years, beginning in 1940, John D. Hollingsworth, Jr. quietly went about amassing 42,000 acres, the largest holding of privately owned land in South Carolina. His belief in sound stewardship of this earth led to the planting of pine trees on all of his open lands. When Interstate 85 came through his property in Greenville, it separated 1,800 acres of prime development property. Today, undeveloped Hollingsworth properties still hold pine forests that are managed for timber production. Verdae Properties was established in 1983 as a wholly-owned subsidiary to develop and manage Mr. Hollingsworth’s lands, keeping with his wishes that his name not be used publicly or on any advertisement. Though he passed away in 2000, Verdae Properties, LLC continues to manage large parcels across the state. The development of these properties has been purposeful and strategic. At the time of Mr. Hollingsworth’s death, Verdae Properties included a resort hotel and golf course, shopping centers, apartments and a technology business park.
Included in these holdings was the 1,800 acre tract encompassing both sides of I-85, which was considered to be a prime component of development in Greenville. In April of 2002, discussions began on how best to develop a 407 acre parcel on the South side of I-85, and the decision was made for the parcel to be sold in part for the development of an automotive research park. The sale of this parcel launched an engineering center by Clemson University that would be named the Carroll Campbell Jr. Engineering Center in honor of the former South Carolina Governor. Clemson University is partnering in this endeavor with BMW, IBM and Microsoft and it will become a draw for integration of software and engine concerns. Along with the Clemson portion of development, Rosen Associates is developing the Millennium Campus, which will highlight different research companies. Hubbell Lighting Company is the first company to build a facility as part of the Millennium Campus. Property included in the Millennium Campus was sold to St. Francis Hospital for a research hospital facility. A subsidiary company, Verdae Development, Inc., has been organized to develop the 1,100 acres north of Interstate 85 in accordance with the master plan.