Photo: Sregor54, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Enterprise Mill began as a granite flour mill in 1848, grew into one of the South’s finest cotton mills, ran until 1983, and now holds offices, lofts and the Augusta Canal Discovery Center, where the canal’s Petersburg boat tours begin.
- Address1450 Greene St., Augusta, GA 30901
- Discovery CenterTue to Sat, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Boat toursNarrated Petersburg boat tours Tue to Sat; reservations encouraged
- Phone706-823-0440 (boat tours ext. 502)
Visiting Today
The Augusta Canal Discovery Center inside the mill covers the canal’s construction, its role in the Civil War, the New South mill boom and the electrification of the city. Open-air Petersburg boats, modeled on the cargo boats that once worked the canal, leave from the mill’s dock for narrated history and nature tours past the old mills and the Confederate Powder Works chimney, plus evening music cruises. Every boat tour ticket includes free admission to the Discovery Center. Tours are canceled when the heat index reaches 105°F. Use Blome Lane in your GPS for the dock.
A Mill’s Life
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1845 | Farmer James L. Coleman persuades the canal commissioners to route the new Augusta Canal through his land for water power. |
| 1848 | Coleman finishes a four-story granite flour mill, “Coleman’s Granite Mill,” for about $40,000, built of stone barged from near Stallings Island. It is the only one of the canal’s four pre-1850 mills still standing. |
| 1853 to 1873 | Benjamin Warren buys the mill at a sheriff’s sale, then sells in 1863 to three merchants including George T. Jackson. A brick addition goes up in 1873. |
| 1877 | After the canal’s 1872 to 1875 enlargement, the Enterprise Manufacturing Company is formed. Builder Jones S. Davis puts up a three-story brick textile mill with a central stair tower for nearly $200,000, with twice the water power it needed. Davis went on to build Sibley Mill. |
| 1880 | Shareholders vote to double the mill; a water tower holding a 10,000-gallon sprinkler tank and the company bell is added. |
| 1884 | The mill shuts down after its president is caught embezzling to speculate in cotton. Directors sell preferred stock, and James P. Verdery steers the company through the 1884 market collapse and an 1886 strike. |
| 1888 to 1890 | A 120-by-120-foot weave room is added. In 1890 historian Charles C. Jones calls its product “the finest cloth made in the South.” |
| 1923 to 1940 | The Graniteville Company buys control, combines Enterprise with Sibley in 1936, and runs both as divisions from 1940. |
| 1983 | The Enterprise Division closes on March 23. |
| 1997 | Clayton P. Boardman III buys the empty mill, removes 5,000 tons of debris, restores 500 windows and two stair towers, and reopens it as offices, shops and lofts. |
The mill stands in the Augusta Canal National Historic Landmark district, part of the Augusta Canal National Heritage Area, and was documented by the National Park Service’s Historic American Engineering Record.
Enterprise Mill1450 Greene St.
Canal Boat ToursLeave from the mill’s dock
Getting There
From I-20, take the Washington Road exit and head east on the John C. Calhoun Expressway. Take the 15th Street exit, turn left, then bear right onto Greene Street; the mill is on the right at Cottage Street.
Nearby: Sibley Mill, the Harrisburg-West End Historic District and more Augusta historic sites.
Enterprise Mill is the starting point of our self-guided Augusta Canal and downtown historic walk; see also things to do in Augusta.
Sources we checked
Facts in this page were checked against the agencies and operators that run these places:
- Augusta Canal National Heritage Area: boat tours and Discovery Center
- Explore Georgia: Augusta Canal Discovery Center & Petersburg Boat Tours
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