Greenville REAL ESTATE, HOMES & Neighborhoods
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Dunean Mills
Greenville SC's rich textile past gives character to homes for sale in a revitalized Greenville SC neighborhood
"There's no place like home" is more than a cliche to residents of the Dunean Greenville Sc community, a close-knit Greenville SC neighborhood with Greenville SC homes for sale tucked between Mills Avenue and Anderson Road.
Dunean Mills are Greenville SC homes where you can drive along quiet, shady streets and back alleys reminiscent of years gone by. It's where you'll find rows of Greenville SC homes that are older homes, remodeled, vinyl-sided homes; porches on Greenville SC homes adorned with plants; and neatly trimmed lawns edged with colorful flower beds.
The Greenville SC homes for sale are typical of a former Greenville SC mill village - a mix of traditional and bungalow styles of Greenville SC real estate built on spacious lots. Most are single-story Greenville SC homes for sale or Greenville SC homes, have steeply pitched roofs and front porches big enough to accommodate hanging ferns, oak rockers and other necessities of life in an old-fashioned sidewalk community.
Once you enter the Greenville SC neighborhood, you'll feel as though you've traveled back in time. The Dunean textile mill, which opened in 1912, still stands. Over the years, the Greenville SC facility has been owned by different companies. Today, Safety Component Fabric Technologies Inc. operates out of the plant. The company, which makes fabric for automobile airbags, has 365 employees, said Joe Marett, human resource manager.
From the early to mid-1900s, the Greenville SC mill was the center of community life, and most Dunean residents worked there. Today, however, neighborhood residents are employed at a wide range of Greenville SC and Upstate businesses.
Across from the plant is Stevens Street, Dunean's "downtown." Today, walking along Stevens Street, you'll find a family-owned barber shop that's operated since the 1930s, and a beauty salon.
Beside the barber shop is a small church that once was a drugstore. Tommy Fulbright remembers working in the drugstore as a child, delivering prescriptions on his bicycle and selling 15-cent sodas and 35-cent sandwiches. The job paid 50 cents an hour plus all the comic books he could read, said Fulbright, who now operates the barber shop with his brother, Wilburn. "So there were fringe benefits."
In those days, there was also a small cafe next door, a popular after-school hangout for neighborhood children, and nearby, a general store where Greenville SC mill workers bought groceries and fabrics. But those days have long since disappeared. The general store is now an empty lot, and the cafe closed its doors years ago. But the small-town atmosphere in Dunean lingers.
"It's sort of a 'Mayberry' feeling," said Brenda Fowler, a 48-year-old orthodontist's assistant. "People look out for each other."
Many who own Greenville real estate in this community today are second- and third-generation residents who have returned to raise their families.
Some never left, said Mrs. Fowler, who along with her husband, William, was born and raised in Dunean, of Greenville SC. They attended the same church, Dunean United Methodist, and even the same Greenville SC schools until both graduated from Carolina High. They've since reared their own two children in Dunean.
Fowler said one of the reasons he feels safe living in Dunean is that residents "kind of keep together and watch out for the neighborhood."
Built in the early 1900s, Dunean has remained a relatively stable community over the years. One of the reasons, said Gwen Kennedy, executive director of the Greenville County Redevelopment Authority, is that nearly 70 percent of the neighborhood's 600-plus homes are owner-occupied. Also, like the Fowlers, residents have tended to stick around. "There hasn't been any major flight from the community," she said.
Greenville SC real estate revitalization efforts also have helped. "The neighborhood has really transitioned in the last 20 years," Kennedy said.
During the 1980s, the Greenville SC real estate Redevelopment Authority invested more than $2.6 million in the Greenville community in the form of grants and low-interest loans. The money was used to renovate Greenville real estate and bring them up to code and to improve infrastructure such as streets and curbs.
And more recently, young families and retirees have purchased and renovated individual Greenville SC homes. "The area provides an ample supply of affordable housing," Kennedy said.
Houses in Dunean are a good investment because you can get a return on your money at a reasonable cost, said Peggy Powell, real-estate agent for Coldwell Banker, The Lesley Agency.
Cost was something Jennifer and Gordon Ferrell had to consider when they were shopping for their first piece of Greenville real estate seven years ago. During their Greenville Real Estate search, the then-newlyweds saw potential in a traditional, two-bedroom, two-bath house off Stevens Street.
It was perfect for renovation. The couple did all the work themselves, repainting the walls, installing new windows and a heating and air-conditioning system, and refinishing the hardwood floors. Plus they added a laundry off the kitchen. Their hard work has paid off.
"We just about doubled our money," said Mrs. Ferrell, a 30-year-old tax administrator for BB&T. "You can't beat that."
In addition to affordable Greenville real estate, Dunean in Greenville SC offers its residents another plus in its convenient location. Restaurants as well as discount, grocery and drugstores are located nearby on Mills Avenue. The community is also just minutes from the city's hospitals and downtown Greenville SC.
Greenville SC County recreation facilities such as Shoeless Joe Jackson Memorial Park and the Sterling Community Center are nearby as well.
"(Dunean) is pretty much in the center of everything," said resident Charles Roddy, who grew up in the neighborhood. "It's still a good place to be."
Roddy, 49, recalled the old Greenville SC mill-village days when there was always something to do and somewhere to be. There were church activities, youth groups, baseball and basketball games, and neighborhood get-togethers with sack races, egg tosses and greased-pig contests.
"We always had a good time," said Roddy, who owns a commercial supply company in Seneca.
Good times still remain for the Roddys. They and their neighbors hold socials and cookouts at each other's homes. "Everybody brings salads, tables, chairs," said his wife, Beth, a registered nurse and mother of four. "We have steaks, seafood, desserts. It's been a wonderful experience."
By Cheryl Allen, Greenville News Staff Writer
Years built
1910-1920; expanded during 1920s
Square footage
1,200-3,600
Parks
Shoeless Joe Jackson Memorial Park, Sterling Community Center and Freetown Community Center
Greenville SC homes and history
Greenville Sc schools
Greenville Sc jobs
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