Bittersweet glimpse at future for former Celanese workers

By Matt Garfield - mgarfield@heraldonline.com

When Mamie Brady drives past the empty field where the Celanese Celriver Plant stood, memories come flickering back.

It was the place Brady worked for 26 years, inspecting spools of yarn as they rolled off machines. All that's left of the plant today, at least to people passing by, is a rusted water tower and a lone brick building.

“It makes you have a knot in your stomach,” Brady said. “We worked there for so long. Now it's just gone. Sort of like your house got mowed down.”

Crews finished demolishing the plant more than a year ago. But the people who worked there got back together Wednesday for what amounted to a rare mixing of Rock Hill's past and future.

Brady and more than 80 former co-workers came to hear about Riverwalk, the massive redevelopment project taking shape on the grounds of the old plant on North Cherry Road. Organizers called it the largest gathering of ex-employees since Celanese closed in 2005.

“Kind of like a high school reunion,” said former plant engineer Donald Krause.

Marker for employees

Dave Williams, the developer overseeing Riverwalk, talked about plans for a marker to pay tribute to Celanese employees. It would stand in a visible spot at the new project site, which will include an outdoor shopping village, business park, recreation complex and hundreds of homes.

Since 2005, a Cincinnati-based company has spent more than $40 million to clean up the site and make it ready for something new.

The quick work of the bulldozers came as a shock for ex-employees such as Herbert Knox. Knox said he was glad workers will be remembered, even though he still can't believe the plant itself has disappeared.

It was a common sentiment at Wednesday's gathering.

“I never could imagine Celanese leaving, period,” said Knox, a veteran of the plant's twisting and seaming operations. “It's been there all my life.”

“It's a little depressing to see it gone,” said James R. Brown, who worked in the human resources office. “But I like what they're talking about.”

Some reminders of Celanese will remain at the site. Crews plan to repaint the rusted water tower and leave it in place as a landmark for Riverwalk. A 1940s-era train locomotive used by Celanese will be refurbished and put in a park.

Pride in the plant

Shortly after Williams moved into an office on the Celanese grounds, a man showed up with an unusual request. He asked if Williams would let him take a brick from the building where he used to work.

For Williams, it was an eye-opening lesson in the pride felt by Celanese alumni. “From that day on, we always made sure we had bricks available for anyone who stopped by,” he said.

A small group of Celanese retirees meets twice a year for breakfast at Shoney's, and there is talk of getting together more often. As they chatted Wednesday, employees squinted at each other's name tags to help identify familiar faces.

Brady, the lady who inspected yarn spools known as bobbins, said the camaraderie from the old days was evident.

“We became like family in our department,” she said. “On breaks, we sat together, talked about our families. I miss it.”

Soon, the last building from the Celanese era will vanish.

Williams and his development group work out of the old personnel offices facing Cherry Road. A questioner asked if the building would be left as part of Riverwalk. Not likely, said Williams, noting the dated look.

“Unfortunately, the 1947 architecture doesn't really work well with what we have planned,” he said.

What was Celanese?

At its peak, more than 1,600 people worked at Celanese, making materials used in home furnishings, suit linings and cigarette filters.

In its final years, a dwindling customer base and competition from overseas markets forced a series of job cuts, and the Celriver Plant closed for good in April 2005.