The Garnerville Arts & Industrial Center "GARNER Historic District" – A Brief History
1760 – Grist mill owned by Cornelius Osborn operates on the Minisceongo Creek waterfall. 1830 – John Glass purchases 45 acres along Railroad Avenue and builds first textile mill making calico print. 1831 – Mr. Glass and 13 others killed in shipboard explosion. 1838 – Plant is purchased by the Garner brothers and expanded, now employing more than 800 people. 1853 – Textile mill is making 11 million yards of cloth per year. Workers homes & surrounding village named Garnerville 1860 – Civil War. Rockland Print Works manufactures uniforms for the Union Army of the North. 1915 – Textile mill now producing 1.6 million yards of cloth per week. Rockland Print Works literally owns the village, from the streetlights to the private police force. 1929 – The Great Depression begins. The textile mill closes. Buildings abandoned, machinery sold and moved. 1934 – William Larkin and 39 local businessmen purchase the complex with the help of a $150,000 loan from FDR’s Reconstruction Finance Corporation. 1940 – World War II. Uniforms made for American soldiers. 1950 – United Wire Goods Company is the first to start hiring Puerto Rican and Dominican workers. 1980 – Textile industry gone. Light industry moves in. 2001 – First Garnerville Arts Festival attracts 1000 visitors. 2003 – Arts Center is founded. 2007 – CREEKSIDE opens. 2008 – Arts Center becomes 501(c)(3) not-for-profit arts organization. 2009 – ‘Encounters with the Arts’ educational programs begin. 2010 – 10th Annual Arts Festival draws 5000 visitors. 2011 – Hurricane Irene destroys Garner’s Main Gallery, Arts Center is temporarily closed. 2012 – GARNER Arts Center reopens; work begins on Building #35 restoration project; the Preservation League of New York State names Garnerville Arts & Industrial Center as one of its Seven to Save historic sites and grants the first Technical Assistance Grant for the restoration of Building #35. 2013 – New York State Historic Preservation Office lists Garnerville Arts & Industrial Center on the State Historic Register of Historic Places as the “Rockland Print Works Historic District”. Click to view the full National Register Nomination (History section begins on Page 11). 2015 - GARNER Arts Center welcomes 2,000 community members back for its first Arts Festival since Hurricane Irene. Launches first year of exhibitions and performances since 2010.
