‘Close to forever as we can get’: Fort Mill icon Anne Springs Close’s reflections
Anne Springs Close is a Fort Mill icon. For decades she’s been involved in the town’s business, development, preservation and recreation.
Close has died at age 95.
In her many years of involvement in Fort Mill, Close offered her thoughts to reporters on a variety of topics. Many dealt with her namesake, the Anne Springs Close Greenway. Others involved an ill-fated blimp, Ironman training or the Springs Industries textile giant.
Here, from news archives, is Anne Springs Close in her own words:
The Hindenburg
▪ “We went over in 1936 – my mother, my father, my German nanny and my mother’s brother. They went to the Olympics and that was the year Jesse Owens won the gold medals. It only operated that one year. At that time it was thought to be wonderful, the new thing in travel.” - Recounting her passenger trip in the Hindenburg, from a 2013 Fort Mill Times article.
▪ “He cabled my mother and said ‘It’s perfectly safe, send the children.’ So much for that.” - A 2017 Fort Mill Times article when Close, speaking of her father, was honored during the 80th anniversary of the Hindenburg disaster. She had been a passenger on the aircraft on a previous trip.
▪ “Ten years old, you remember pretty much. I remember it was pretty crowded and not much to do. Not much room to move around. You were down in the gondola. I remember the slanted windows...If you wanted to smoke, you had to go to (a special attendant). You had to go in what looked like a big metal telephone booth. I tell people that when we do a history event and the children don’t know what I’m talking about. I have to explain what a telephone booth was.” - From the same 2017 article where Anne Springs Close talks about being in the Hindenburg.
The Greenway
▪ “I set out to preserve some of the farmland because it was disappearing so rapidly...But the last five to 10 years, people from all across the region started to use it and that’s why we had to revise our long-range plan to accommodate the crowds that started to utilize it. I certainly didn’t anticipate the use it was going to get.” - A 2015 Fort Mill Times article on how Hurricane Hugo impacted Greenway planning prior to its 1995 opening.
▪ “I’m delighted to be honored by an organization that has done so much for conservation in South Carolina. Conservation is really what the Greenway is all about. We have preserved this land so that future generations can enjoy open space and nature as we have.” - Fort Mill Times article from 2014 on Close being honored by Conservation Voters of South Carolina.
▪ “We only set out to save a few trees, but we are delighted the Greenway has become so popular that we’re adding programs and making improvements that will move us to a new level. More and more, it seems people understand and appreciate the healing powers of being outside and active.” - A 2014 Fort Mill Times article on the launch of a $15 million campaign for the welcome center and amphitheater.
▪ “The job is too big and the stakes are too high to leave it to someone else.” - A 1990 Charlotte Observer article on the opening of the first trail in what was then called the Anne Springs Close Greenbelt, and an announcement of what would become Elisha Park.
Fitness
▪ “I hope to go for six (thousand miles). I’m still counting. I try not to be obsessive about it, but it has become a habit. But if I am in Fort Mill, I am going to come out here (to the Complex) at least four times a week.” - Preparing for her 19th Ironman Challenge (cumulative 26.2-mile run, 112-mile bike ride, 2.4-mile run) in Fort Mill, at age 87, as told to the Fort Mill Times in 2013.
Philanthropy
▪ “Giving back to these communities is a value that we hold dear. (Col. Elliott White Springs) felt very strongly that the money made came from the efforts of the people who worked in the mills and that it should go back to them..The legacy of giving is a great testament to the kind of man my father was, and I know he would be proud that our family continues this work.” - Told to the Fort Mill Times in 2012 when the Springs Close Foundation surpassed $100 million in awarded grants.
▪ “Change is hard; people thought we were crazy. They said, ‘Why should we give our tax dollars to landowners not to turn their pasture into a subdivision?’ Back then, some people couldn’t see the immediate need to save the open spaces while we still could, because they thought we had an endless supply...If we hadn’t started when we did, we’d be like Charlotte with hardly enough open land left to preserve.” - A 2008 Charlotte Observer story on York County Forever, which Close had chaired.
▪ “Nation Ford Road was the gateway to Charlotte back in the 1700s and 1800s and we are very lucky to have these historic markers. It was a nice gesture of the Springs family to give us these stones, and it’s fitting because they really are coming home.” - A 2009 Charlotte Observer article on a Charlotte family donating some of the earliest known road markers to the city, dating to the early 1800s.
Textile mill transition
▪ “Obviously times change, and manufacturing here and in the country has been fading for some time. It’s kind of sad to me because we’re talking about five generations (of family leadership).” - A 2007 Charlotte Observer story on changes to Fort Mill and textile communities.
▪ “If anything, the proposed merger strengthens the company’s ties to Fort Mill and the Carolinas. What we’ve been able to do for more than a century is adapt to the changing marketplace; that’s why we’re still around in the 21st century. Crandall’s ancestors would be proud of the steps she’s taken to position the company for the next generation. I know I am.” - A 2005 Charlotte Observer story on the planned merger of Springs Industries and Brazilian textile company Coteminas.
▪ “When I was young there were just caretakers living here. It was kind of run down because a lot of different people owned it and it was deteriorating badly...Originally there was an avenue that went down to the railroad track...It was beautiful.” - A Charlotte Observer story from 1989 detailed the conversion of the Springfield home to an office for Leroy Springs & Co.
▪ “I can remember when I was a little girl and the whistle would blow at 5 o’clock. Most of the people lived in walking distance of the mill. They’d get up and come for the 6 o’clock shift. The mill would wake everybody up for the 6 o’clock shift...It had open windows. It was noisy, and the dust was everywhere. You couldn’t hear yourself in the weave room. It changed through the years.” - Close recalled the family plant in Fort Mill during the 1930s for a 1988 Charlotte Observer article
▪ “The mill manager lived in that house for a number of years. Even when I was a little girl, the house went with the job. They could hear the mills running. Lee Skipper (one plant manager) said he could tell if anything was wrong and would wake up in his sleep.” - A separate 1988 Observer story detailed the history of the Springs Guest House
This story was originally published August 20, 2021 at 1:50 PM with the headline "‘Close to forever as we can get’: Fort Mill icon Anne Springs Close’s reflections."
