Take a walk through historic downtown Fort Mill, South Carolina, and you’ll experience small-town America. A train runs at the end of Main Street, friendly merchants tend to their shops, and old men reminisce in the bandstand at the corner park.

It’s this way of life and an excellent school district that are luring newcomers and developers from Charlotte.

In reaction to this growth, The Close Family—founders of Springs Industries—formed Clear Springs Development Company, LLC in 1997 to oversee the development of the family's 7,000 acres in and around Fort Mill .The Clear Springs Plan encourages careful growth in the town they live and helped foster for over 200 years.