After more than a decade of planning, the transformation of the old Easley Woodside Mill into an upscale apartment complex is finally set to begin.

That’s the headline. Now let me tell you the story, or at least the bit of it I know.

Once upon a time, there was a man named Harry King. He lived in Easley and made his living buying and selling used textile machinery.

His company was called IP Southern. You may have noticed that name on the water tower of the old Woodside Mill on South 5th Street in Easley.

Sometime in the early 1990s, as the region’s textile industry began to fall on hard times due to cheap foreign imports, Woodside decided to close its Easley mill, which was one of the oldest in its system.

King saw an opportunity in this local tragedy. He bought the mill, and all the equipment inside it, and had sold all the machinery within a few years.

He died in 2007.

King had four daughters — Sophie, Julie, Popie and

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