John & Mary Sanders Research Library

The Fort Mill History Museum provides a research library named after influential Fort Mill citizens, John and Mary Sanders. The library houses a collection of research volumes on various topics as well as original documents and photographs of people and events from Fort Mill’s history.

John and Mary Sanders were respected members of the Fort Mill community, both professionally and socially. John Lester Sanders (1914-2004), known as “Shine” in recognition of his very first job shining shoes on Main Street, began his career in retail working for Mills Hardware. He married Mary Elizabeth Garner (1920-2014) in 1938 and they set up their household on Doby’s Bridge Road. During World War II, Mary worked as a real-life “Rosie the Riveter” making artillery shells in Charlotte.

In the 1940s, John and Mary opened Sanders Grocery Store. Both were active members of the Paradise community. John devoted time to the Boy Scouts at Bethlehem Baptist Church and to groups at the George Fish School. Mary was in leadership with the Prince Hall Affiliate Order of the Eastern Star and the Baptist Training Union.

John and Mary raised eight children, five of whom served their country, three in the U.S. Army and two in the U.S. Marine Corps. A strong work ethic and a commitment to community were hallmarks of the Sanders’ lives.

John possessed strong integrity and displayed exemplary leadership skills which made him a role model and spokesman for the Paradise community. He assisted the Fort Mill Police Department in organizing the George Fish School Safety Patrol’s summer trips to Charleston, South Carolina and he was a supporter of the Bethlehem Baptist’s Boy Scout Troop 160.

Sanders believed in man’s ability to improve himself, regardless of his station in life. “We only have a short time on this earth, and it is up to us to leave it a little better than we found it,” he said.

The John and Mary Sanders Research Library was named in their honor by the Sanders children and grandchildren.