If you worked for Jantzen, you likely miss the “Diving Girl”

The neon lady in a bathing cap and a one piece bathing suit made for a landmark in the latter part of the 20th century in Seneca. She was perched upon a hill above Seneca’s Miracle Circle where the Jantzen sportswear company of Portland, Oregon ran one of two textile apparel plants in Oconee County. The “Diving Girl” as she was known is gone, likely never to return, as in recent years the Jantzen building became Perry Ellis International. But she is not forgotten, especially to those who worked at Jantzen. The Diving Girl wasn’t real, of course, but she’s in the heart and mind of those who remember. That’s why former Jantzen employees read with interest a recent New York Times article written by a swimming book author who traced the American swimsuit breakthrough to a Portland, Oregon river and to a Danish immigrant named Carl Jantzen who knitted the first one piece women’s swimsuits.