Piedmont Historical Preservation Society to present program on Greenville Builder – Joseph E. Sirrine

The Piedmont Historical Preservation Society will host a presentation on Greenville Builder Joseph E. Sirrine at 2:30 pm, September 22, in the Piedmont Community Building. Admission is $5.
Dr. John Blanton will presents the program: Joseph E. Sirrine – Builder of Greenville.
In 1890, at the tender age of 17, Joseph Emory Sirrine completed a Bachelor of Science degree from Furman University and set out on a career in industrial architecture and engineering. Within 10 years he had become the most sought-after textile mill designer in the region. Over the decades that followed his name was associated with dozens of textile mills and mill villages, as well as many other commercial buildings and structures in Greenville and across the entire southeast. His leadership inspired hundreds of engineers over multiple generations and his legacy continues to this day. This program will look at the life of Joseph Sirrine starting with his well-known family and trace his accomplishments over five decades. It will also highlight the spectacular growth and success of the textile industry in Greenville in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Dr. John Blanton earned mechanical engineering degrees from Virginia Tech and spent 36 years with the General Electric Company advancing gas turbine technologies. He has had a lifelong interest in the history of science and technology. He is a Fellow of ASME and AIAA and earned Professional Engineering licensure in the Commonwealth of Virginia.