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By: Cassie Ballard
The future of the Bull street site has made the Mattress Factory a point of interest for many. This interest seems tied to the looming destruction of this little building. It now serves as a reminder of the impending change to the campus as a whole. However, while in use this building was of little interest to those in charge of the campus.
The birth of the factory is quite mysterious. In a folder that belonged to Inez Fripp, the date for the initial building is set at circa 1900. This same report by Mrs.Fripp states that Robert S. Lafaye was responsible for the building of the current Mattress Factory.[1],[2] It also does not appear on the Sanborn fire insurance maps until June of 1919, although previous to that are unnamed “workshops” near the site of the current Mattress Factory.[3] The first mention of the building in the Annual Reports made by the Board of Regents is in the 1916 report. It does not mention the building process or any specific information. It simply notes the existence of the “Mattress Shop” under the “Table of Occupations. Patients engaged therein on December 31 1915”.[4] Similar tables regarding the working lives of patients continue to reappear in the annual reports up until 1956. Particularly interesting with this report is the lack of any patients listed as working there. This suggests that it was a new building or the first time it had been reported. Instead of patients, there was a hired worker, as noted in the Treasurer’s Annual Report of 1915. Under the section “Mechanical Department” there is one mattress-maker listed for receiving a monthly salary of $33.50. [5]As this evidence suggests, even if there was a building circa 1900 it must not have been very productive if the annual reports felt no need to report its productivity until 1916.
To support this are the annual reports dating from 1906 to 1916. The 1906 report, for example, notes two separate spendings on mattress. The first is for a purchase for $185.85 and second for $32.70. [6],[7] If the mattress factory was fully productive, there would be no need for such spending on mattresses. There were several years when no money is spent on mattresses though. With the purchasing of “duck remnants” (feathers) they could have been repurposing the mattress. [8]
A major period of change, that is recorded, is the burning of the mattress factory. This is stated briefly in the annual report for the year of 1921. It is noted under the section called “Report of Architect” and states “In the early part of the year fire destroyed the frame tin-clad building used as a mattress factory. A new brick building was erected to replace the burned building.” [9] Fires before electricity were common of course. However, mattresses were made a particular way during this time that made the buildings prone to fire. In “The Intelligencer”, an Anderson South Carolina paper, there was a fire at a mattress factory located there in July of 1915. According to the paper enamel was baked onto the springs and this required large amounts of fuel, gasoline in particular.[10]
It must be mentioned that the Mattress Factory was most likely never meant to be alone in this field. According to the annual report of 1906, the architects wanted all of the shops moved to “the valley lying below and easterly from the line of Barnwell street”. This is where the factory is located today and would explain its odd position on the site.[11]
The years during World War II there were little to no additions made at all to the campus. In the 1945 annual report under the section “permanent improvements” the author states that “there has been no building program for the last year…it must be admitted that through inability to secure sufficient mechanics the physical part of the plant has had to be neglected.”[12] The war years were obviously difficult for the campus as a whole, but for the already underfunded Mattress Factory it most likely meant that only the very most necessary repairs were made. Small workshops obviously are not known for their luster or beauty, but this may explain why some parts of this building have non-matching bricks or lackluster repair work.
The years after the war allowed for some slight improvements for the Mattress Factory. Even though at any given time the factory had less than 10 workers, by 1953 the factory was in full production mode again. According to the annual report for this year, there were 3,372 mattresses made alongside 1,828 mattress covers. Besides this new burst of energy from the factory, it was also relisted as part of the “supply division”. This was a division of labor that kept the hospital stocked with necessary supplies.[13] Four years later, in the 1957 annual report, the production stayed about the same. For this year the Mattress Factory made 2,476 mattress and 1,733 mattress covers.[14]
Also mentioned in the 1957 annual report is the idea of different types of occupational therapy. The idea of “voluntary” occupational therapy was an older one that dated back to the Kirkbride system.[15] This system continues well throughout the 20th century, except the board of regents occasionally gave it a different name. In this annual report it is referred to as “industrial therapy”.[16] In the annual report for 1958 the board of the regents continues to refer to the work done at the Mattress Factory as “industrial therapy” but now lists a sub-category called “other industrial activities”. [17] It states that patients were encouraged to work, even if the work was regarded as simple. Also, instead of separately listing how many patients worked where, this report combines all the patients working in the “Mattress making shop, wards, dining halls, greenhouse and campus, yard and coal details, supply department, library, recreation and music therapy departments, messenger service, pharmacy, multilith and office supply section, etc.” to make a grand total of working 575 males.[18]
The annual reports were difficult to locate past the year of 1958. However, from the simplification of the Mattress Factory’s work in the last two (1957 and 1958) there most likely would not have been much information. To the board of the regents and the superintendents, the Mattress Factory was but another workshop on the campus.
Published in 1972 there was an interesting pamphlet/book that was called “Mental Health: Progress and Promise 1952-1972”. There is a large page dedicated to the occupational therapies at the hospital. It likens the site to a “small city”. It notes that in 1972 there are 6,500 patients and 2,000 employees.[19] On this page there is a rather famous picture of two men making mattresses in the factory. This image has been reproduced very often. In the South Carolina Archives and History there are two pictures. One was this exact picture, except not cropped. Although not dated, these pictures tell a story that took place between 1952 and 1972, according to this booklet. First and foremost, these pictures show African American patients working alongside a white patient. The annual reports up until 1958 never record African American patients working at the shop. Therefore this picture had to have been taken sometime between 1958 and 1972. The secondly, these pictures answer architectural questions. Today, when viewing the building from the front, there is a raised bit of roof. On either side of the front door there are two windows. On the left side, after this raised bit of roof begins, the windows no longer match up. The brick work is consistent though, although it is obvious that there has been plenty of re-grouting. All of this suggests that this part was added on at some point. According to these pictures this add-on would have had to take place before the time of this picture because it is clearly visible. If this part was added onto the building, it couldn’t have been more than 30 years after the rebuilding in 1921. In addition to this, there is an open door with a dark room behind the workers. When viewing the building today, there is a tin-clad structure on the back of this building. It has not always been there because if one peers inside of it, the brick building has windows that face into the shed. [20]
One element that used to exist that is not present anymore is the road that ran in front of the factory. This road is shown on a map dated to 1972. It runs alongside the factory and then connects back with Mills Drive. It would have been extremely helpful to transport goods from the factory to the rest of the site, as it ran very close to the front of the buildings.[21]
After the 1970s, any documents pertaining to the Mattress Factory becomes scarce. There is, however, one projector slide dated January 1984 that is in a collection of random slides. It shows the Mattress Factory from afar. In the 30 years since this picture was taken, several changes have been made. First, there were double doors on the front of the building. These doors are now gone and have been replaced with a much smaller single door with the extra space filled with bricks. Second, air conditioning units present now on the front of the building are missing from this photograph. Therefore the building must have still been in use after 1984. There are even multiple cars parked in the parking lot next to it. Third, the road that ran in front of the building is still present. Fourth, the fencing on the left side of the building is not there.[22]
This little building is quite confusing when one observes it today. It has new repairs mixed with old repairs and architecture that conflict with other parts of the building. It was obviously a well-used factory. In the eyes of the superintendents and the board of regents, it was not an important building. Presently it is important symbolically. The building is a representation of the self-sufficiency of this site and therefore stands for something much larger than itself.
[1]“Inventory Report 1963”, Box 3, S190093, Location 379C02, SC Department of Archives and History,Columbia, South Carolina.
[2]Inez Fripp,“Lafaye & Lafaye Buildings: 1918-1972”, Box 3, S190093, Location 379C02, SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[3] Map 45. “Columbia”. 1919 June. Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Company. 2004. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of South Carolina Digital Database.<http://digital.tcl.sc.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/SFMAPS/id/963/rec/1>(March 25 2014).
[4] Board of Regents,“Annual Report Year 1915”, Box 2, 190002, Location 375MO2, SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[5] Board of Regents. “Annual Report Year 1915”, box 2, S190002, Location 375MO2, SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[6] Board of Regents. “Annual Report Year 1905”,box 2, S190002, Location 375MO2, SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Board of Regents.”Annual Report Year 1908”, box 2, S190002, Location 375MO2, SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[9] The Intelligencer (Anderson), “Destructive Fire at Mattress Factory,” July 15, 1915. <http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/2010218505/1915-07-15/ed-1/seq-6/#date1=1836&index=0&rows=20&words=factory+FACTORY+FIRE+fire+mattress+MATTRESS&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=South+Carolina&date2=1922&proxtext=mattress+factory+fire&y=0&x=0&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1> (accessed March 25, 2014).
[10] Ibid.
[11] Board of Regents. ”Annual Report Year 1906”, box 2, S190002, Location 375MO2, SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[12] Board of Regents. “Annual Report for 1945”, box 2, S190002, Location 375MO2, SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[13] Board of Regents. “Annual Report for 1944”, box 2, S190002, Location 375MO2, SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[14] Board of Regents. “Annual Report for 1957”, box 2, S190002, Location 375MO2, SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[15]Yanni, Carla. “Establishing the Type.” In The architecture of madness insane asylums in the United States. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007. 73-74.
[16] Board of Regents. “Annual Report for 1957”, box 2, S190002, Location 375MO2, SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[17] Board of Regents. “Annual Report for 1958”, box 2, S190002, Location 375MO2, SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[18] Ibid.
[19] “Mental Health: progress and promise 1952-1972”. S190093, Location 379c01. SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[20]“Two Pictures of Workers”, S190093, Location 379C03, Department of South Carolina Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[21] “1971 Map”, Box 3, S190093, Location 379C02, Department of South Carolina Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.
[22] “Jan.1984 Slide Picture of Mattress Factory”, Box 2, S190002, Location 375MO2, Department of South Carolina Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.