Who was Anne Springs Close? She and her family helped shape SC for more than a century.
Anne Springs Close, who died Friday at 95, was the surviving matriarch of a family dynasty that has shaped South Carolina for 130 years.
Close was a well-known community member in York County. She most famously founded the Anne Springs Close Greenway, but was also involved in education, conservation efforts, philanthropy and advocacy.
But she also carried on the legacy of the Springs family that began over a century ago. Her family made history in York and Lancaster counties and her birthplace of Chester County.
The Springs Cotton Mills, founded by Spring’s grandfather, Leroy Springs, opened in 1887. Meanwhile, Samuel Elliot White began the Fort Mill Manufacturing Co. Both families rose to prominence in the area, and the Springs company would later purchase mills in Lancaster and Chester counties.
In 1892, Samuel White’s daughter Grace married Leroy Springs, linking the two powerful families.
In 1914, historical archives called the Springs Cotton Mills “the largest textile operation under one roof.” Elliot White Springs, Close’s father, took over the company in 1931.
White Springs, a decorated World War I and World War II veteran, was a force to be reckoned with. Historians write that the public assumed White Springs would tank the company, inheriting as he did an empire during the Great Depression.
“But not only does the company survive,” historian Joseph Hinson wrote. “It thrives.”
At the time of his death, the company had not only been revived from a downfall but had grown exponentially. Worth $7.25 million at the time of White Spring’s takeover, the company would be worth $104.5 million at the time of his death in 1959.
For a time, Close’s husband, Hugh William Close, took over the business before his own death in 1983.
For 95 years, Close would carry on her father’s legacy: She saw the world before her as an opportunity. She thrived and made her own mark on the community. And like her father, she accomplished seemingly impossible feats.
“Growing up, ladies were not supposed to perspire, let alone sweat,” she said in a 2017 interview. But during her life, Close climbed Africa’s Mt. Kilimanjaro three times and was a 1996 Olympic torch runner.
Her Greenway is an outdoor recreation park that sits on 2,100 acres of family-owned land in northern York County and preserves 40 miles of trails, waterways and natural habitats for plants and animals. It’s a place where locals ride horses and tube down the river, tourists explore and children visit for field trips.
And it was opened against all odds. Close wanted to create a green space that would be protected as the Charlotte metro area sprawled. She said in the 2017 interview that the land that would become the greenway was destroyed during Hurricane Hugo, which ripped through the Southeast in 1989.
“But on Earth Day in 1990, we announced there would be a Greenway. It took us two years to clean up, and three years to get the trail ready,” she said. The Greenway opened on Earth Day 1995.
Close had ties to history other than her family’s manufacturing success.
She was one of the last surviving passengers of the historic airship the Hindenburg, which famously exploded on landing in 1937.
She had traveled on the hydrogen-filled airship, known for its record-breaking number of passengers to cross the Atlantic Ocean at the time, at 10 years old. She was on one of its last successful flights, traveling from the United States to Germany. The aircraft’s explosion revealed design flaws and ended the airship era.
Her obituary posted on the Anne Springs Close Greenway website says Close remembered celebrating victory in the war — her husband, a Navy lieutenant, commanded a ship that was “one of the most continually attacked vessels in the Pacific war.”
Close’s legacy will endure through the Springs Close Foundation, a philanthropy started by her father and continued by Close. And her family’s blood will continue to run through the community through the still-active Springs company, now called Springs Creative. The company is run by her son Derick Close and earns an estimated $50 million to $60 million in annual revenue.
Close is survived by eight children. And she will be remembered when visitors look out at the vista of her beloved Greenway.
“I can die happy,” she once said, “knowing that the Greenway will always be green.”
This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 3:01 PM.
