Celriver Legacy Plaza is under construction in Rock Hill’s Riverwalk development area
The Celriver Legacy Plaza is under construction in Rock Hill’s new Riverwalk development after about $290,000 was donated to the project.
The plaza – funded by 176 donors over the last 18 months – is part of a developing “town center” where the former Celanese Celriver textile plant once operated. The new public space will accommodate events and concerts for Riverwalk residents and visitors.
The Celriver Legacy Project aims to preserve the legacy of the Celanese Celriver plant, its employees and its historical impact on Rock Hill’s economy. Between 1948 and 2005 the Celriver plant kept as many as 2,300 York County citizens employed. A historical marker was unveiled outside the Riverwalk YMCA to commemorate the Celriver plant in June.
The project will also establish endowed college scholarships to family members of former Celriver employees and other applicable students.
Jim Davis – former Celriver employee – is the treasurer of the Celriver Legacy Project. Davis wrote in a May blog post, “My great hope is the Celriver Legacy Plaza and Legacy Scholarships will help us remember our great friends and the importance of Celriver to the Rock Hill Community.”
Honoring the Celriver plant means more to former employees than celebrating economic prosperity. Celriver retirees still cherish memories and lifelong friendships made at the plant.
Mack Bailey, secretary of the Celriver Legacy Project, recounts his experience at the plant: “What I really enjoyed was the interaction with the people,” Bailey said. “I’m an engineer by training and you might know that engineers aren’t terribly social people, but it was almost like a family at Celriver. People in the community had a chance to have a good life working there.”
Jim Heckle, president and CEO of York County Natural Gas Authority, is a member of the Celriver Legacy Campaign Steering Committee and one of many donors to the Celriver Legacy Project.
“One of the main reasons the authority was formed was because of the larger industries in the area like the Celriver plant,” Heckle said. “They were tremendously helpful to the authority. They did an outstanding service for the Rock Hill community by employing the number of people they did.” The York County Natural Gas Authority is one of the commercial names the plaza will feature in memorial markers.
The plaza will include benches, sculptures of former employees, artwork, a poem about the Celriver plant, graphic interpretive kiosks and memorial markers with over 200 names of contributors.
The Riverwalk Development will house 4,000 to 5,000 residents when it is completed; retail and dining establishments are also under development
This story was originally published October 9, 2016 at 7:15 PM with the headline "Celriver Legacy Plaza is under construction in Rock Hill’s Riverwalk development area."