Textile Industry in Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER AL-141. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

COTTON MILLS IN HUNTSVILLE The first cotton mill within the city limits of Huntsville went up in Headed up by a local physician, George M. Harris, Huntsville Cotton Mills stood near the Memphis and Charleston Railroad depot. By the mill had spindles. It was reincorporated as Margaret Mills in and renamed Fletcher Mills in Wealthy outsiders, headed up by Michael O'Shaughnessy and his brother James organized the North Alabama Improvement Company in which was chartered to promote immigration of skilled labor, issue mortgages on real and personal property, mine minerals and coal, build and lease hotels, sink oil wells, and buy operate or lease railroads, tramways, 1 News and Courier (Charleston) 1 August 11 Mitchell, 67.

12Mill village residents were not counted as part of Huntsville's population until Only parts of the city that received police protection were included in a census. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 6) turnpikes and canals. 13 The North Alabama Improvement Company was instrumental in enticing Trevor B. Dallas of Nashville to locate a new cotton mill in Huntsville in The company donated fifty acres ofland for a factory site and purchased worth of stock in the venture which was capitalized at Nine northern businesses supplied worth of machinery and supplies in return for stock. 14 Dallas was to be a weaving mill producing cotton sheeting. By December of there were seven mills either operating or under construction.

In addition to Dallas Mills, Huntsville had the Merrimack Mill, started in the Lowe Mill, incorporated in the West Huntsville Cotton Mill, incorporated in and the Madison Spinning Mill, later Lincoln Mills of Alabama, started in The combined output of these mills was worth about of goods per year. 15 A Huntsville Chamber of Commerce booklet gives an idea of the local textile industry's size in The total number of spindles was The mills used bales of cotton and tons of coal annually. This translated into yards of cloth annually. Yearly textile pay roll for a total of3,320 employees exceeded The total value of all goods produced annually was 16 Although it lacked financial resources, Huntsville' water supply was inexpensive and abundant.

Construction costs were modest and labor was plentiful. The land was worn out and hardscrabble farmers, tied to a subsistence economy, were willing to work hard, long days for low wages. These tenant farmers and mountaineers, excluded from the antebellum plantation/slave structure, now found themselves employable and desirable consumers in a market economy. Companies found it in their best interest to provide education, recreation and housing to their employees. The paternalistic policies were a minimum cost means for the mills to provide necessities to their workers while keeping wages low. 17 The work week ranged from sixty-six to seventy-five hours. As an example, Huntsville's Dallas Mill paid 68 cents for an average hour day.

The low wages were supplemented by low-rent housing and electricity. Food, goods and services were provided by the company store at minimum mark-up. In spite of 13Ryan, 10. 14Ibid., 13. 15Will Mickle. "Huntsville, Alabama: Cotton Textile Center of the New South." Cotton History Review 92. 16Huntsville Chamber of Commerce. Brief Facts About the Cotton Mill Industry of Huntsville, Ala. (Huntsville, Alabama: Chamber of Commerce, 17. 17Ryan, 6. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 7) the long hours and low wages, many mill workers considered their condition as an improvement over life as tenant farmers. 18 Dallas Mills When Dallas Mills began production on November 8, it was regarded as one of the largest and most modem mills in the middle south.

Except for brief strike periods, it was in full operation until the strike of It faltered on until when the stockholders voted to liquidate. Authorized capital at the time of sale was All through its operational period New York investors, primarily the Millikin family and Deering-Millikin Company, maintained some control over Dallas and supplied some of the upper management. The original Dallas Mill was designed by Lockwood Greene Engineers, a Boston firm that designed many other cotton mills throughout the south.

19 The five-story, brick Italianate structure was built in two phases, with the southern half of the mill built in and the northern in The National Register nomination form for Dallas Mill provides an useful detailed description of this no longer extant structure: The proportions of the overall design are superior to the average late century mill in Alabama and the structure is a good example of design which is functional and handsome without being elaborate. The exterior brick walls have deep-set windows, with segmental arched heads and deep sashes sloped on a 45-degree angle, which makes for an extremely crisp, clean cut appearance. Beams form a two-foot overhang and due to the large size of the building, the beams appear as modillions.

The two brick towers housing the water tanks have four round- arched, narrow windows that serve as an effective counterpoint to the horizontal mass of the main building. The towers have pyramidal standing-seam metal roofs and turned wood finials about three feet high. In addition, there are two very large brick stacks with decorative stacks above the boiler room. Floor and roof beams are supported by turned wood columns with cast-iron caps of a faintly "Doric" shape. The bottom five inches of the columns are wrapped with a spiral of one-inch wide strapping to protect them from cart crashes. The floor is made of one by three edge grain maple. Fire walls divide the building in half, with openings for a central drive shaft on each floor which had power take-off pulleys to run machines.

A well in the basement, lined with smooth stones, draws water from one of the main channels of downtown's Big Spring. 18 Ibid., 6. 19 The Huntsville Times (Huntsville), 1 August TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 8) Sited on 14 acres at 701 Dallas Avenue in northeast Huntsville, Dallas Mill housed 700 looms and spindles in By the facility housed broad looms, 50 narrow looms and spindles. Over the first eight years of operation employment went from 500 to workers. 20 The mill used about bales of cotton annually to produce bleached and brown shirting and sheeting. Other products included a high quality greige (unbleached) cloth trade named Dallas, Wilton & Hadley. Sheets and pillow cases were marketed under the Sylvan label.

Later the bleachery was closed and only greige goods manufactured. By the mill accommodated spindles and looms. 21 A compound, hp steam driven mill engine powered the mill. The engine drove a 26' flywheel at 26 The flywheel was grooved for twenty-six 1 3/ / ropes which turned pulleys and shafts on each floor. Between and the mill went from steam powered equipment to electric motor drives. 22 The company started building a village to house workers around Named Lawrence Village, it included churches, a store, post office and later the Rison School. 23 The village stood on the site of a Spanish-American War training camp. At its peak the village included about 300 houses. Depending on its size a family would be entitled to several rooms at a rent of one dollar per room per month.

Houses were sold to employees at a modest price in the The company built Rison School in When the mill closed down in it employed 300 workers and used between and bales per year. When the corporation liquidated in July of two local businessmen, Elrod and E.W. Buffington bought the property for and leased it to Genesco, a shoe manufacturer. By Genesco had moved out and a broker took a long-term option on the mill with the possibility of converting it into offices or apartments. 24 Then, on July 24, the historic Dallas Mill went up in flames, victim of an arsonist who confessed to 20 "Dallas Mill" National Register of Historic Places Inventory--Nomination Form, National Park Service, 21 Mickle, 94. 22 Sketch of Rope Drive, The Dallas Manufacturing Company.

Huntsville, AL, Lockwood Greene, May 10, 23 The Huntsville Times (Huntsville), 11 October 24 Ibid. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 9) setting the structure on fire. Merrimack Manufacturing Company The Merrimack Manufacturing Company, of Lowell, Massachusetts, began operations in In the years that followed, the company succeeded as a manufacturer of calico, and at the end of the nineteenth century initiated plans to expand with a new mill located in the south. Around Mr. Tracy W. Pratt, a prominent business leader who visualized Huntsville as a major textile center, convinced Merrimack executives that a site adjacent to Brahan Spring was ideal for a new mill.

Merrimack purchased acres and ground-breaking for the factory took place on July 4, The new mill was designed by the engineering firm Lockwood Greene of Boston. Excavation for Mill No. 1 was done entirely by hand and a portion of the brick for the building and smokestack were made on the plant site. The first machines, probably openers and carders, started operating on July 9, Cloth weaving started up in August of that year. 26 Most of the machinery was old equipment from northern mills. All looms were non-automatic and threaded by hand. The mill employed 500 hands at 700 print cloth looms and spindles. It consumed bales of cotton per year. 27 During this period there were no laws to restrict child labor.

Boys and girls as young as seven or eight were encouraged to work and help support the family. Children tended from two to six looms and from half to a full spinning frame. There was time to rest and occasionally to play while on the job. Hours were long and there was little opportunity to get an education. 28 A Presbyterian missionary, Miss Jesse House, started a kindergarten and night "reading and writing" classes for the child workers. By a state law requiring six weeks of school per year increased enrollment in the school and children would spend half a day at the mill and half a day at school to comply with the law. 29 By December of the school was formalized and installed on the second floor of the mill store as Doutheboys Hall School.

School started at 25 sine nomine "A Soggy Beginning" [photocopy]. Vertical Files, Madison County Library, Huntsville, Alabama. 26 Ibid., 3. 27The Huntsville Times (Huntsville), September 195 5. 28 Sarah Huff Fisk. The Huntsville Parker Historical Edition (Huntsville: Huntsville Park Association, 37. Vertical files, Madison County Library, Huntsville Alabama. 29 Ibid., 38. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 10) am and finished at noon. The students would then work in the mill during the afternoon. The school year was only 8 weeks long. 30 Construction of Mill No. 2 started in early Lockwood Greene brought in crews from Boston to build the new mill. It took ten months for 500 construction workers to finish the mill in November of Some machinery in No.

2 mill was recycled from closed northern mills,31 but the looms were new automatic Model "J" units made by Draper. The mill power came from a large Corliss engine. 32 The City of Huntsville had extended a street car line to Merrimack's plant to enable workers to commute to their jobs cheaply and fairly quickly. However custom and practicality ordained that most workers should live within walking distance of their jobs. Merrimack, following the paternalistic practices of the time, built a workers village just west of the mill complex. The first houses went up at the same time that the mill started operations. These were two-story, two family, side-by-side dwellings with large rooms and porches.

Each dwelling included a privy and bath house at the back of its lot and an alley was provided along the back of the lots. Water was piped into a hydrant at the back of each lot. 33 Many workers who lived in the village owned cows. These were allowed to graze on the company pasture by day and stabled on the owner's lot at night. The company provided hog pens a short distance from the village for any pigs. The company provided garden plots for workers who wished to raise produce. The village was lit at night by oil lamps but these were later replaced by electric lights powered from the mill's generators. 34 The electric plan shows 20 arc lights on poles in the village. In mid-1905 Joseph J. Bradley took over as company agent. One of 30sine nomine.

Photograph Photograph Collection, Huntsville Public Library (Huntsville, Alabama, 31 "Soggy Beginning," 5. 32sine loco, sine nominee "Salient Facts About 'Merrimack"' [photocopy]. Vertical Files, Madison County Library, Huntsville, Alabama. 33 "Soggy Beginning," 3. 34 Ibid., 3. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 11) his first projects was to build a hospital in the village. It was staffed by two nurses and a doctor. 35 By the mill produced a million yards per week of print cloth, percales, organdies and khaki. Cotton consumption was bales per year, and machinery listed at looms and spindles. The mill employed 900 workers and had grown to square feet of floor space. Additional expansion took place just prior to World War I. In an addition was built onto Mill No.

1, a 750 KW steam turbine replaced the original steam engine, and additional power was purchased from a public utility. In Merrimack went to purchased power exclusively. 36 During this period the company operated a kindergarten, a library and a domestic science department which gave home demonstrations in cooking, nutrition, canning and sewing. In Merrimack also built a company store to service the village. The building housed a variety shop, two grocery and vegetable stores, a barber shop, a beauty shop, and a restaurant. The second floor housed a recreation hall, gymnasium and a club room for the Boy Scouts and Sea Scouts. The Boy Scout troop organized in and was followed by a Girl Scout troop that same year. The company supported semi-pro baseball teams.

The athletes were members of college teams or players who planned to go on to a career in the minor or major leagues. 37 The company also built a school for area children in A new sewer system, sidewalks, curbs and gutters modernized the village. 38 Throughout World War II Merrimack provided textiles for the military. When the war ended the market was oversupplied with highly competitive goods and sales declined. Additionally Merrimack's equipment was old and needed repair. The parent company's bleachery no longer acted as a "captive" customer for the Huntsville plants products and the entire production was being sold to outside finishing plants. M. Lowenstein & Sons bought Merrimack in January of and changed the name to Huntsville Manufacturing Company.

Lowenstein owned eight other mills and operated the world's largest printing and finishing plant at Rock Hill, Alabama. At the time Lowenstein took over, Merrimack had spindles and looms. 700 employees turned out 77 million yards of cloth annually. Lowenstein announced plans to increase capacity to spindles in square feet of floor space would also be added. The increasing prosperity and 35 Ibid., 5. 36 "Salient Facts," 1. 37 Fisk, 44. 38 "Salient Facts," 1. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 12) widespread car ownership was reflected in the parking lots that the company added south and northwest of the mill. 104 new looms were set up in an underutilized section of No. 2 mill.

Plans were set in motion to further modernize and increase the work force to By September of Lowenstein & Sons was rated by the Financial World Annual Report Survey as "Best in the Textile Industry." By the volume of business justified going to a 44 hour week. 39 Lowenstein sold the houses in the village to employees in and the village changed its name to Huntsville Park. Houses were sold for 20% under FHA appraisal value and ranged from for a three room house to for a twelve room house. Most buildings were two- family homes situated on average 100-foot wide lots which varied from 170 to 200 feet in depth. 40 In the county paved the streets of Huntsville Park. The same year the company water reservoir works and sewerage collection system were given to the City of Huntsville.

Lowenstein also gave the 24-classroom Joseph Bradley School to Madison County in Expansion plans were suspended when a six week long strike closed the plant in the early spring of Loss of production and cancellation of orders forced a cutback to a 40 hour week and postponed development plans until 41 In the new mill owners built a modern air conditioned building containing square feet of floor space between Mills No. 1 and 2. An extensive machine refurbishment program was begun the same year. 42 Completion of this program and the increased capacity and demand justified hiring 150 new workers and increasing the work week to 48 hours. At its peak in the mill employed workers and operated Draper Model "E" looms. Cotton consumption peaked at bales of cotton.

Production concentrated on cotton greige (unbleached) goods. yards of cloth came off the looms that year and Huntsville Manufacturing was the largest print cloth mill in the south. 43 The next thirty years witnessed the decline of the textile industry in the United States. The best engineering students were attracted to careers in aerospace and electronics and American dominance of the textile machinery business came to an end. Increasing competition from low cost producers in the Far East minimized profits, and increasing environmental protection and waste processing costs forced many manufacturers out of business or to relocate in third world, low wage countries. 39 Fisk, 33. 40 Ibid., 36. 41 Ibid., 34. 42 The Huntsville Times (Huntsville), September 43 Fisk, 35.

TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 13) Lowenstein and the Huntsville Manufacturing Company tried to stem the tide by improving productivity. In May of all the old model "E" Draper looms were replaced 50" Model X2 Draper looms. The mill discontinued print cloth weaving and produced a fabric that could be adapted to a wider variety of finishes. Quality was improved by going to a cloth inspection system. After several years of declining sales, Lowenstein sold the plant to Springs Industries on October 8, for 265 million dollars. Springs operated for one year and finally closed the Huntsville plant in The mill was demolished in Lowe Mill Lowe Mill is unique as it is Huntsville's only textile mill that has survived relatively intact. (For photographs see HAER No.

AL-142, AL-142-A and AL-142-B) It is currently used as a warehouse and light manufacturing facility for non-textile products. Lowe Mill was also known as Poor Mill. It was built in to produce gingham, shirting and yarns. The controlling interest was held by Arthur H. Lowe of Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Original equipment included spindles. In Lowe consolidated with the Eastern Manufacturing Company. Eastern was set up to bleach and dye fabrics. It also did weaving and finishing. In Lowe was bought out by the Hunter Manufacturing Company but continued to operate under the Lowe name. The company went bankrupt in but was reorganized as Lowe Mills only to be dissolved in December of The building was used as a cotton warehouse.

After World War II, Genesco, a shoe manufacturer purchased the property and operated a factory for several years. 45 Currently, the building houses a warehouse owned by Martin Industries. Martin stores and ships gas fireplaces and heaters from this facility. A small manufacturing operation makes wood trim kits for some Martin fireplace models. Lowe also built a mill village for its workers. "Shotgun" houses, designed with all of the rooms in a single row, are common in the village as are several houses featuring steep pyramidal roofs. Lincoln Mills Lincoln Mills was the largest cotton mill in Huntsville until It was founded in and managed to survive the great depression and was revived by massive military production orders during World War II.

A strike in led to litigation and ultimately a Supreme Court Decision interpreting the Taft-Hartley Labor-Management Relations Act in favor of the union. It was a hollow victory as the owners shuttered the plant and liquidated the company. 44 The Huntsville Times (Huntsville), 9 May 45 Huntsville Times - Sesquicentennial Edition (Huntsville, Alabama) April TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 14) Lincoln's history dates back to shortly after the tum of the century, during Huntsville's textile boom. The Madison Spinning Mill was built under the direction of Captain Milton Humes. Humes found it necessary to obtain additional capital from Virginia investors in and the name of the company was changed to Abington Mills.

Abington Mills was not a successful business and went into bankruptcy in William Lincoln Barrell, an entrepreneur from Lawrence, Massachusetts acquired Abington's assets and founded Lincoln Mills, which adopted Barrell middle name to designate the corporation. The William L. Barrell Co. of New York was the company's selling agent. Lincoln initially employed 350 workers to produce heavy duck (canvas), yams and osnaburg fabric, which is a plain heavy coarse yarn-medium or heavy weight cloth of low construction made wholly of short staple grade cotton. Its equipment included 370 carding machines, 700 looms, ring spindles and twisting spindles. The plant employed workers.

Lincoln developed a "plantation style of paternalism in an industrial setting" under the aegis of superintendent Phillip Peeler. Peeler was plant superintendent almost from the founding until his retirement in Evidence indicates that the employees were well treated and prospered under the system. A common theme heard in interviews with former employees is Peeler really took good care ofus. When anybody needed anything you could go to Mr. Peeler and he would see that you had it. He was a good man." 46 Peeler's personal involvement and personal interest succeeded in maintaining amicable relations with the union for many years in spite of manifest worker grievances. Lincoln Mills underwent a major expansion in Massive reinforced concrete buildings arose on the site.

(For photographs see HAER No. AL-143 and AL-143-A)The buildings were designed by an English engineer who had no previous architectural experience. Examination of one remaining building shows that the floors are supported on substantial flared columns (Turner columns) but stability of connections between walls and floors depend on gravity and may be insufficient to withstand side thrust in an earthquake situation. By the time expansion was completed, the plant had square feet to accommodate the machinery. The company also constructed "Lincoln Village," building 600 housing units with rooms. In the late the Lincoln School and store were built for workers and their families. (For photographs see HAER No.

AL-144 and AL-145) The company paid the teachers and operational costs for running the school. Parents had to buy books but it was done through payroll deduction at fifty cents per week. Other necessities from coal to toilet paper were also 46 James K. McCollum and Jorena T. Farrow. "Textile Workers Union of America v. Lincoln Mill of Alabama," in Proceedings of the Southern Management Association Meeting (Huntsville, Alabama: The University of Alabama in Huntsville, 38. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 15) paid for through payroll deduction.

47 In spite of the company's paternalism, Lincoln Mills, as well as Huntsville's other mills, was organized by the United Textile Workers of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in The union drive was triggered by the Roosevelt administration's National Recovery Act of The period was characterized by strikes and violence. The first strike was a nation-wide textile strike that ended in September of Nevertheless, the spirit of paternalism persevered when the company built a building to house the strike pickets. In the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) took over control of the unions from the AFL. A mill supervisor said, "It was difficult to work with the AFL union, but it became a nightmare trying to deal with the CIO union.

The union would shut down sections of the mill over the silliest possible complaints."48 World War II created great demand for heavy canvas duck. Military uses included tents, tarpaulins, hatch covers and webbing. Lincoln Mills went to a three shift operation and employed workers in production. Lincoln was the South's first textile mill to earn an Army-Navy "E" award for meeting production goals. 49 In the paternalistic notions of company operation faded away when older managers retired and were replaced by a tough-minded team schooled in modem business practice. The new managers brought in new, more efficient machinery and were able to maintain production with fewer workers. The company focused on profits and showed less interest in employee welfare.

Two months before the union's contract lapsed in the union filed ten grievances concerning increased work loads. The company refused to modify production standards and the union filed a request for arbitration. The union accused management of refusing to arbitrate in violation of a contract provision legally binding the company to do so. Other grievances centered on insufficient time off the line to go to the toilet or eat lunch. The arbitrator in this case found that the workers were overloaded and "actually had no fatigue or personal allowance time."50 A series of additional work load increases during the summer of set off a violent strike. The union claimed that work loads had been increased from 33 to in many departments and went on strike.

There were fights, stabbings, shootings, automobiles vandalized 47Ibid., 38. 48Ibid., 39. 49 Ibid. 50Ibid. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 16) and daily physical clashes between strikers and workers who crossed the picket lines. The strikers ignored an injunction that aimed to restrain them. Minor legal proceedings continued for two years while the Taft-Hartley case proceeded through the Federal District and Appeals Courts to the Supreme Court. The owners shut down the mill before the case got to the Supreme Court. In a decision written by Justice William 0. Douglas, the court reviewed the section of Taft-Hartley pertaining to arbitration of disputes.

Was Section 301 a procedural declaration giving courts the authority to hear cases originating under union-management contracts, or did it allow the courts to construct settlements to enforce collective-bargaining agreements? The Court held that the union's assent to arbitrate grievances a "quid pro quo" for the right to strike while a contract was in force. Therefore Lincoln Mills had to arbitrate grievances that arose under their collective bargaining agreement with the union. 51 The case gave the federal courts the power to enforce certain aspects of union contracts. The settlement, while a landmark in American labor law, had no effect on Lincoln's workers. At the time of settlement in the company was being liquidated.

In a fire destroyed most of the buildings and the site was cleared, later to be occupied by a shopping center. The remaining building, a reinforced-concrete structure built in was purchased and renovated. One floor formerly housed the engineering group that developed the "Lunar Rover" for moon exploration. It currently provides space for offices and a variety of light manufacturing operations. Conclusion As these brief histories of Dallas, Merrimack, Lowe and Lincoln Mills illustrate, the development of Huntsville's textile industry coincided with national and regional trends.

Like many Southern communities, Huntsville experienced its most important textile industry growth in the years from to Huntsville mills were also typical in their reliance on Northern industrialists and a paternalistic relationship with their workers. In addition to providing rental housing, Huntsville mills frequently provided recreational facilities, schools and shopping or service facilities. One former employee of Lincoln Mill recalled, "We were all poor, but we didn't know it because everybody was poor. We were happy!" In this case, the company also inspected housing and insisted on standards of cleanliness. 52 By the post-war period, labor problems and increased international competition began to erode the strength of the textile industry both in Huntsville and nationally.

Military spending and aerospace research starting in the dramatically shifted Huntsville's industrial base from textiles to high-tech. By the mills were in decline. Managers believed that increasing 51 Ibid., 40. 52 Ibid., 38. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 17) government regulation and a lack of restriction on imported fabric would result in eradication of Huntsville's textile industry. 53 Indeed evidence of Huntsville's once thriving textile industry now remains only in the few surviving mill structures and the extensive mill village neighborhoods.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER AL-141. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY Mill Design Process flow in conventionally designed mills was not a prime consideration. A lot of effort was involved in transporting semi-finished yarn, warp beams and goods between floors and from one end of the mill to another. Part of the reason for the design was based on the ability to transmit power efficiently from a central source through belts and pulleys to the machinery. Yet as early as Henry Meiggs described a model mill. He specified that it should be completely contained on one floor with a separate gangway and catwalk to allow oiling of shafting without requiring access from the plant floor. Elevators and stairways should be eliminated as well as holes in the floors for power transmission belting. Floors should be floodable.

A system of humidity control must be installed. The picker room should be separate to reduce the threat of fire consuming the whole mill. All lights must be enclosed and fire sprinklers installed. The machines and process should be arranged in a linear fashion. Meiggs' recommendations were not adopted at the time. 54 Cotton Processing Technology Cotton spinning and weaving technology evolved as an industrial manufacturing technology throughout the nineteenth century and continues to evolve at a slow rate today. European and Japanese textile machinery manufacturers now dominate the market. The American companies have liquidated or been absorbed into conglomerates. This report will focus on technology as it existed around in some of Huntsville, Alabama's mills.

In particular the work is based on study of Merrimack's Mill No. 2 as built in Some processes are similar at the end of the twentieth century, but this process description should not be used as a guide to contemporary practice. Today far fewer machines are used; development of mechanisms which can draw roving out to greater lengths than the older roll drafting equipment has eliminated intermediate drafting and spinning steps. The modern processes are closely controlled by sensors and computers rather than by the skill of the spinner or weaver. Robots change bobbins on spinning frames and spoolers. Automatic knot tying mechanisms fix breaks in yarn on the spinning frame. The whole cotton manufacturing process is considerably less labor intensive than it was 100 years ago.

53 The Huntsville Times (Huntsville, Alabama), 26 August 54 Willis G. Clark. Memorial Record of Alabama - Cotton Factories in Alabama in State Industrial Interests - Cotton & Paper Mills (sine loc, 92. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 18) The Lockwood Greene plans for Merrimack Mill No. 2 designate the numbers and kinds of process equipment that existed in the mill. A survey of contemporaneous textile engineering books enabled reconstruction of the process used at the mill. Appendix A lists the equipment in detail. Appendix B provides illustrations of some of the types of machinery used. Process Flow for Making Cotton Cloth at Merrimack Mill No. 2: Gins Ginning did not take place at the mill.

However, it is an essential step in preparation of cotton prior to spinning. The purpose of ginning is to remove the cotton fibers from the seeds. Today this also includes drying and cleaning and after ginning, lint cleaning. Lint is the long fiber removed by the saws and delivered to the press box for baling and shipment to the mill. Linters are very short fibers remaining on the seed when ginning is complete. These fibers are removed from the seeds in special delinting machines, at the cottonseed oil mills. Ginning turnout is the percentage by weight of the seed cotton which is lint. It ranges from 30 to Gin cut cotton is damaged cotton in which some of the fibers have been damaged by the saws when the cotton is too damp.

Picker Room Uncompressed cotton direct from the gins is easier to process and cleaner than baled cotton, but shipping cotton in the freshly ginned state would be expensive and impractical. 55 Virtually all cotton came into the mill in the form of a compressed 500 pound bale of tangled and matted fibers. Manual bale breakdown was labor intensive. Consequently, mechanical pickers to open and break apart bales of cotton were an early development. They started to be used around By the turn of the century they were common and efficient. Kitson Machine Company of Lowell, Massachusetts was a leader in making pickers. Breakers The first machine in the mill is the breaker picker, sometimes known as a scutcher (see Appendix B). This opens the bales and fluffs the cotton.

There may be several pickers in the line, but the first of the pickers is usually called the breaker. The rotating device in a picker which performs most of the cleaning and opening operations is called a beater. Cotton is fed into the beater which revolves at a high rate of speed and tears off clumps of fiber. 56 55 Manufacturers Record (sine loco) 1 February, 56 Carmichael, George E. Linton, Isaac Price. Callaway Textile Dictionary, (LaGrange, Georgia: Callaway Mills, George L. Brownell, Inc., 31. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 19) The breaker is equipped with one or more beaters and cage sections and a lap winding device.

The function of these machines is to clean the cotton, fluff it up and deliver it wound in the form of a continuous, slightly compressed sheet of cotton called a lap. The lap is customarily stored as a cylindrical package. 57 Blending Cotton To properly blend cotton, the fiber properties must be known. Length, fineness, grade, strength are measured. Fibers from different batches are quantitatively proportioned so that the physical properties of the blend can be predicted and are reproducible. 58 Intermediate picker Four laps from the breaker picker are fed into the intermediate picker from a breaker picker. This blends and further opens the mass of fiber. 59 Finisher Picker This machine would also be fed with four laps from the intermediate pickers to further blend the fiber.

60 The cotton would then be blown through a conducting trunk or duct to a condenser. The condenser is a mechanism connected to the delivery end of the conducting trunk that separates the cotton from the air which is carrying it and delivers it to a storage bin, hopper or conveyor. 61 Carding The next step in processing is carding. This is a combing process that separates raw cotton into individual fibers and removes dirt and trash. The card is a machine consisting of cylinders of varying sizes-and in certain cases, flats-covered with thousands of close spaced, hooked needles called card clothing. These needles are set in a pattern so that cotton fiber tufts are pulled and separated into individual fibers. The speed of the rotating cylinders or flats varies.

The Huntsville mills generally used the flat cards. 62 The finished, cleaned and oriented fiber product from the 57 Ibid., 49. 58Ibid., 59Ibid,. 60Ibid., 61 Ibid., 89. 62 Ibid., 64. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 20) cards is a loose soft, untwisted strand of fibers called sliver. Sliver is delivered from the carding machines into a roving can. These are cylindrical cans, with composition walls and a metal bottom. Standard cans are 36" high and in diameter which are open at the top. They are also known as sliver cans and are a primary means of in plant storage of sliver or roving before it is spun. Sometimes the term slubbing is applied to roving in the larger and bulkier sizes. Drawing The next process might be drawing.

The Merrimack mill used both drawing and slubbing as processes, depending on the end product that was being produced. In drawing the sliver would be doubled and drawn to straighten them and reduce the size of the strand. In cotton manufacturing drawing is a simple operation between carding and forming the first roving. It is accomplished on a drawing frame. This machine improves the uniformity of the sliver and to arranges the fibers in more parallel order. Usually at each delivery four to six slivers are fed in, drafted and delivered as one sliver, further blending the fiber. The successive steps in producing spun cotton involve reducing the size of the sliver by drawing it out and twisting it. As it becomes thinner and acquires more twist, it also gains tensile strength.

A major difference between tum of the century processing and contemporary technology is called the "long draft" process. This has resulted in by-passing most of the roving processes and it is common practice today to spin coarse yam directly from roving made on a slubber. frame) Modem machinery uses far fewer steps to thin out and twist the fibers. Consequently fewer intermediate spinning frames are required, capital costs are reduced and productivity is increased. Slubbing and Roving Alternately the sliver from the cards might be pulled from the roving cans to a slubbing frame. It takes sliver directly from the can and draws and twists it into a greatly reduced size called roving. Roving is a continuous soft, slightly twisted strand of cotton.

The product of the slubbing frame goes to a roving frame (Appendix B). This machine reduces the size of the roving, evens it, and puts a twist in it. The term includes those machines between drawing and spinning, different types of which are called slubber, intermediate, fine intermediate) and jack. Sometimes the third machine in a series of roving frames is called the speeder. All roving frames draft the stock by means of rolls, twist it with a flyer and wind it on to a wooden bobbin. 63 63 Ibid., TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 21) The flyer inserts twist into slubbing, roving or yarn and serves as a guide for winding it onto a bobbin. Flyers are used on all slubbers and fly frames, on flyer type spinning and twister frames.

The flyer is shaped like an inverted "U" and fits on top of the spindle with which it revolves. 64 Spinning After passing through several stages of roving frames the yarn goes to a spinning frame. This machine draws the stock to the required size, inserts the desired twist and winds the yarn on a suitable bobbin. The mills in Huntsville used ring spinning frames. These machines took roving wound on an upright creel, passed it between draft rolls, through the yarn guide and downward through a traveler. The traveller is a wire guide which rotates at high speed around a ring, and twists the yarn with each revolution. The ring is traversed in a vertical direction, while the bobbin on which the yarn is wound remains in the same place, simply revolving with the spindle on which it is placed.

Ring frames are usually long machines with duplicate sides. The product of the spinning frame is called yarn; defined as an assemblage of fibers or filaments, twisted or laid together so as to form a continuous strand which can be used in weaving. 65 Spooling The bobbins would then be transferred to a spooler. The spoolers assemble a greater length of yarn and put in a suitable shape to be unwound at the next process. The product of spoolers is sometimes called a "cheese." which is a cylindrical package of yarn wound on a flange less paper or wooden tube. Warping Yarns intended for warp strands in weaving would then go to a beam warper (see Appendix B). The warper takes yarn from packages or cheeses and winds them on a section beam.

This is a large spool on which several hundred warp threads are wound. Slashing The section beam then goes to the slasher. The slasher applies size to warp yarns. It consists of a stand for holding the section beams, a size box, one or more cylindrical dryers and a beaming end for winding the yarn on the loom beam. As spun, warp yarns are not strong enough to withstand the mechanical stress of weaving. Also as section beams come from the warper they are not necessarily the correct length for the loom and may not contain the desired number of 64Ibid., 65 Ibid., TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 22) yams for weaving. The number of warp yams wound on a section beam are limited by the creel capacity of the warper.

Consequently it might be necessary to take the yams from a number of beams made at the warper and run them to one loom beam. The yam is not in suitable condition for weaving when on the section beam. Warp yam gets a lot of abrasion moving up and down through harnesses and through a reed that is moving back and forth. This causes chafing and so the warp threads must be sized or coated with a solution of cornstarch and other chemicals. Sizing also adds weight. The slasher coats each thread of warp yam evenly with size. Sometimes stronger selvage threads are added on the outer edges of the warp. The sized yam is dried by passing over a hot cylinder and then wound on a loom or warp beam in an even sheet.

The objective is to create a sheet of warp fibers that will unwind at the loom without obstruction and pass throughout the harnesses and reeds without breakage. 66 Fly Frames The Merrimack mill also had fly frames in their equipment line-up. Also known as Roving Frame Twisters, these machine twisted together two or more separate yams for making greige goods for bags or linoleum base. These could be converted for the manufacturing of toweling either making a ply yam, cable yam or for inserting additional twist in a single yam. Their exact usage in making the brown and bleached sheetings known to be produced at Merrimack is not clear but they could have been used to produce selvage (edge) yams of higher tensile strength.

Weaving The warp yams and the fill or weft yams would then be woven into fabric on looms. The lengthwise strands are called warp and the crosswise called fill or weft. Most of Merrimack's looms had automatic bobbin changers; when a shuttle bobbin ran out of fill yam, it would be ejected and replaced with a full bobbin. Finishing The output of Merrimack's mills was greige goods which were shipped to other plants or customers for bleaching, dyeing and printing. 66 Ring Frames, Cotton Mules, Twisters, Spoolers, Beam Warpers, Slashers, Chain Warping (Scranton, Pennsylvania: International Library of Technology, TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 23) Bibliography Betts, E.C.

"Early History of Huntsville," in A History of the Cotton Textile Industry of Alabama Historical Collection, Huntsville Public Library, Huntsville, Alabama, Brannon, Peter A. "Newcommen Society Address, Alabama State Department of Archives and History. Carmichael, George E. Linton; and Isaac Price. Callaway Textile Dictionary. LaGrange, Georgia: Callaway Mills, George L. Brownell, Inc., Clark, Willis G. Memorial Record of Alabama - Cotton Factories in Alabama in State Industrial Interests - Cotton & Paper Mills sine loco: Cobb, Patsy. "Textiles" (7 April [photocopy]. Vertical Files, Madison County Library, Huntsville, Alabama. Draper, Geo.

& Sons, Facts and Figures for Textile Concerning the Proper methods of Equipping and Running Mills Including Special Treatises on Carding, Spinning, Spooling, Warping, Dyeing, Reeling, Twisting and Weaving. Also Mathematical Tables and a full list of the patented Cotton Machinery Introduced and Sold by the Firm of Geo. Draper & Sons, and the following companies for Whom they are sole agents: The Sawyer Spindle Co., Hopedale Machine Co., Dutcher Temple Co., Northrop Loom Co. Presented with their complements. Hopedale, Massachusetts, Fisk, Sarah Huff. The Huntsville Parker Historical Edition Huntsville: Huntsville Manufacturing Company, Vertical files, Madison County Library, Huntsville, Alabama. Hamby, ed. The American Cotton Handbook- Volumes 1 & 2.

New York: Interscience Publishers Division of John Wiley & Sons, Huntsville Chamber of Commerce, Brief Facts About the Cotton Mill Industry of Huntsville, Ala. Huntsville, Alabama: Chamber of Commerce, Keel, Edna. ed. Merrimack Huntsville, Alabama: [photocopy]. Vertical Files, Madison County Library, Huntsville, Alabama. Looms. Lowell, Massachusetts: Catalog of The Lowell Machine Shop, Builders of Cotton Machinery, Kitson Machine Co. Lowell, Massachusetts: Catalog of Pickers and other mill equipment, TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 24) McCollum, James K. and Farrow, Jorena T. "Textile Workers Union of America V.

Lincoln Mills of Alabama," Proceedings of the Southern Management Association Meeting (Huntsville, Alabama: The University of Alabama in Huntsville, Mickle, Will. "Huntsville, Alabama: Cotton Textile Center of the New South." Cotton History Review: Mitchell, Broadus. The Rise of Cotton Mills in the South Gloucester, Massachusetts: Peter Smith, Publisher, Ring Frames, Cotton Mules, Twisters, Spoolers, Beam Wru:pers, Slashers, Chain Wru:ping. Scranton, Pennsylvania: International Library of Technology, Ryan, Patricia. Northern Dollars for Huntsville Spindles, Huntsville: Planning Department, Special Report No. 4, Wru:pers and Slashers. Lowell, Massachusetts: Catalog of The Lowell Machine Shop, Builders of Cotton Machinery, sine loco, sine nominee "Salient Facts About "Merrimack" [photocopy].

Vertical Files, Madison County Library, Huntsville, Alabama. sine nomine. Photograph Photograph Collection, Huntsville Public Library (Huntsville, Alabama, Newspapers: Charleston News and Courier, (1 August Huntsville Republican, (10 October The Huntsville Times, September The Huntsville Times, (1 August The Huntsville Times, (11 October The Huntsville Times, (26 August The Huntsville Times, (11 October The Huntsville Times, (9 May Manufacturers Record, (1 February Engineering Drawings (originals housed at Lockwood Greene, Spartanburg, Plan of First Floor Card Room, Merrimack Manufacturing Company, (Southern Mill), Lockwood Greene TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 25) Plan of First Story Weave Room, Merrimack Manufacturing Company, No.

2 Mill, Huntsville, AL, Lockwood Greene, July 30, Plan of Second Story Weave Room, Merrimack Manufacturing Company, No. 2 Mill, Huntsville, AL, Lockwood Greene, July 30, Plan of Third Story Picking and Carding Room, Merrimack Manufacturing Company, No. 2 Mill, Huntsville, AL, Lockwood Greene, July 30, Plan of Fourth Story Spinning, etc. Room, Merrimack Manufacturing Company, No. 2 Mill, Huntsville, AL, Lockwood Greene, July 30, Plan of Fifth Story Spinning Room, Merrimack Manufacturing Company, No. 2 Mill, Huntsville, AL, Lockwood Greene, July 30, Rope Drive, Dallas Manufacturing Company, Huntsville, AL, Lockwood Greene, May 10, Rope Drive, Merrimack Manufacturing Company, No.

2 Mill, Huntsville, AL, Lockwood Greene, July 30, Plan of Fifth Story Spinning Room, Merrimack Manufacturing Company, No. 2 Mill, Huntsville, AL, Lockwood Greene, July 30, Additional

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER AL-141. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Stephens, Elise, PhD and Shouse, Sarah, PhD An Oral and Photographic Study of Huntsville's Mill Villages. October 16, Collection housed at Madison County Library, Huntsville, Alabama. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 26) Appendix A: Layout and machinery list of Merrimack Manufacturing Co. No. 2 Mill, Huntsville, Alabama as designed by Lockwood-Greene in Note: The sequence of Mill areas analyzed is based roughly on the process flow throughout the mill. While most of the equipment was new, some had been brought in from closed Northern mills.

(Based on drawings dated July 30, Mill Area: First floor Opening room (left) - square feet Old Stick Whipper [Probably a beater] (1) Old Breakers (4) Conveyor Trunks (2) Old Intermediate Pickers (4) Old Finisher Pickers (4) Mill Area: First floor Carding room (center) square feet Old Flat Breaker Cards Mill area: Third story picker room (right) - square feet Beater Breakers, (6) Intermediate breakers,( 6) Finisher breakers (6) Machine Manufacturer: Kitson Machine Company, Lowell, Massachusetts Mill Area: First floor Slubber/Roving/Spinning room (right) - square feet Deliveries [Roving Cans] Doubled 4 into 1 Slubber Fly Frames (4) Intermediate Fly Frames Fine Fly Frames Right side also has: Office 54' 6" x 22' 8" less stairwell and toilets. Square footage office= 890 square feet.

A cloth room 22' 8" x 62' 6" = square feet. And a machine shop 62' x 45' 4" = square feet. Mill Area: Third story Carding room (left) - square feet 45" Flat carding machines Roving frames, 168 spindles each spindles total Intermediate frames with 116 spindles each total slubbers with 84 spindles each 756 total Machine Manufacturer: Lowell Machine Shop. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 27) Drawing frames, 66 deliveries from first drawing and 66 from second drawing Machine Manufacturer: Lowell Machine shop. Mill Area: Fourth story spinning room (left) - sguare feet Roving Frames of 168 spindles each total Machine Manufacturer: Lowell Machine Shop.

Spinning Frames of 224 spindles each total spindles Note these are also denoted as filling frames for winding weft or fill, the cross threads in a piece of woven goods. Mill Area: Fourth story Slasher room (right) sguare feet 6 Slashers Machine Manufacturer: Lowell Machine Shop Mill Area: Fifth story - Spoolers and Warp Spinning Frames Spoolers having 120 spindles each total Warpers Warp Frames having 224 spindles each total Note spindle speed is specified at rpm and that these are denoted as frames for winding warp threads which are spun tighter than fill threads. Machine Manufacturer: Lowell Machine Shop.

Mill Area: Second story weave room, right side sguare feet 28" Draper Model "J" looms Mill Area: Second story weave room, left side sguare feet 28" Draper Model "J" looms Other Mill Features Between the left and right sides is a ropeway 17' 4" wide by 67 feet long. This housed the ropes and sheaves by which power was transmitted to the machinery on each floor of the mill. This center section also contained a dust chimney 17' 4" by All dust collection equipment was ducted to a settling or dust room, in the basement of the mill. This room exhausted to the dust chimney. Additionally the center section housed twin elevator shafts and a stairway. Toilets are contained in an internal tower at the right front of the building and an external tower at the rear center of the building.

Rope drive (Based on Rope Drive Blueprint No. 2 Mill, Merrimack Manufacturing Company, June 22, Powered by a Cooper cross-compound steam engine driving a 20' diameter wheel at 80 TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 28) There are 56 - 1 diameter ropes on the main pulley which is 14 feet wide. Rope speed is feet per minute. 16 ropes go to a sheave on the fifth floor, 72" in diameter, running at 264 rpm which supplies power to the spooling and warping room and the warp spinning room. 16 ropes go to a sheave on the fourth floor, 72" in diameter, running at 256 rpm which supplies power to the slasher room and the filling and spinning room.

9 ropes go to a sheave on the third floor, 72" in diameter, running at 256 rpm which supplies power to the picker room and the carding room. 15 ropes go to a sheave on the first and second floors, 73 inches in diameter, running at 261 rpm which supplies power to the weaving rooms. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 29) Appendix B: Selected Textile Machinery Illustrations TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 30) -- - J3reaker ~Picket w1ili Condenser 0 Kitson Machine Co. - C. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 31) IMPROVED ROVING-FRAME. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 32) TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No.

AL-141 (Page 33) APPENDIXC: SELECTED TEXTILE DIRECTORY LISTINGS HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA Compiled By: Lisa Pfueller Davidson TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 34) Historic American Engineering Record Southern Textile Industry Survey Textile Directory Database - Methodology Lisa Pfueller Davidson, HAER Historian The Textile Directory Database uses selected editions of three textile industry directories housed in the Library of Congress. These directories are Davison's Textile Blue Book (New York: Davison Publishing Co.), Dockham 's American Trade Reports and Directory of the Textile Manufacture and Dry Goods Trade (Boston: C.A.

Dockham and Co.), and Textile Manufacturers' Directory of the United States or American Textile Directory (New York: American Directory Co., Inc.). The names of these directories vary somewhat over the years. The directory years range from to with the most thorough coverage from approximately The directory editions included in the database are roughly every five years, but availability created gaps for some directories and allowed additional years for others. Davison's Textile Blue Book is the most consistent and well-represented directory in the database with editions for every two to four years from to included. Dockham 's American Trade Reports provides the earliest coverage starting in and going up to but with large gaps in availability.

Textile Manufacturers' Directory is available for the years from to only, but consistently every two to five years. The database compiles a standard set of information from all of the included directories: mill name, directory date, directory name, company, date, capital, product, number of spindles - ring, twist and type not available, number of looms - broad, narrow, and type not available, power source, number of employees, and miscellaneous notes. Empty fields for any of these categories indicate that information was not available for that year. The information in the textile directory database is only as reliable as the original directories, and it is important to know that inconsistencies do appear in the original listings.

All information has been transcribed as presented in the original directories. Comparing directories or editions is useful for determining the relative accuracy of specific listings. Each textile directory report includes all of the entries available in the database for a given county, town or mill. This phase of the Textile Industry Database includes entries for LaGrange and Hogansville, Georgia; Valley, Selma and Huntsville, Alabama; and Graniteville, South Carolina. The database will be expanded along with the HAER Southern Textile Industry Survey. Notes on Specific Fields: Mill (name): Historic name changes sometimes make a specific mill difficult to track.

Where possible, name changes are noted in the Notes field, or location and company name can be used TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 35) to identify a mill by its historic name. Directory Date and Directory: These two fields identify the year and type of directory that entry was from. Davisons =Davison's Textile Blue Book Dockhams = Dockham 's American Trade Reports and Directory of the Textile Manufacture and Dry Goods Trade Textile= Textile Manufacturers' Directory of the United States or American Textile Directory (name varies). Company: While these directory reports are sorted primarily by mill name, the company name is included for all entries to show consistency or changes in ownership.

Date: The date in this field either refers to the year of incorporation for the mill or the year operations began, as listed in the directory. Inconsistencies in this field generally result from this difference, or indicate that the mill was reincorporated. Capital: Sometimes the capital amount given for a certain mill actually refers to the capital for a larger company operating multiple mills. This fact is mentioned in the Notes field where possible. Product: The types of fabrics and yarns made at the mill during that directory year are listed.

Spindles (Ring, Twist, or Type Not Available): The numbers reported in the directories usually appear to be estimates rounded to the nearest 100 or Looms (Broad, Narrow, or Type Not Available): The numbers reported in the directories usually appear to be estimates rounded to the nearest When the specific size of loom was mentioned, that information appears in the Notes field. Power: It is often not clear from the directories when a mention of electric power means just for lighting or for operating machinery as well. Employs: The numbers reported in the directories usually appear to be estimates rounded to the nearest 10. Notes: This field contains miscellaneous information where appropriate, sometimes including amounts additional types of machinery such as cards and pickers.

TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 36) Appendix C: Selected Textile Directory Listings for Huntsville, Alabama Mill Directory Directory Company Date Capital Product Spindles- Spindles- Spindles- Looms- Looms- Looms- Power Employs Notes Date Ring Twist Type N/A Broad Narrow Type N/A Abingdon Davisons Abingdon duck and drills 172 336 steam 3 boilers, 51 cards, Mill Mills formerly Madison Co.

Abingdon Davisons Abingdon duck, drills, 172 336 steam 51 cards Mill Mills twills, and osnaburgs Abingdon Textile Abingdon ducks, drills, 400 steam Mill Mills and osnaburgs Abingdon Dockhams Abingdon ducks, 294 steam Mill Mills osnaburgs, twills, yarns and Abingdon Davisons Abingdon duck, drills, 172 294 steam 350 51 cards Mill Cotton twills, and Mills osnaburgs Abingdon Davisons Abingdon duck, drills, 174 294 steam 350 51 cards Mill Cotton twills, and Mills osnaburgs Abingdon Davisons Abingdon duck, drills, 124 156 steam 350 63 cards, 2 boilers Mill Cotton twills, and Mills osnaburgs Admiral Davisons Admiral braids braiders Braid Mill Braid Co.

Bell Textile Bell sheetings, Factory Factory ginghams, plaids, tucks, osnaburgs, drills, duck and kerseys Bell Dockhams Bell sheetings, JJ Donegan, near Factory Factory ginghams, Huntsville tucks and plaids Bell Textile Bell sheetings, 80 near Huntsville Factory Factory plaids, tickings, yarns etc. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No.

AL-141 (Page 37) Mill Directory Directory Company Date Capital Product Spindles- Spindles- Spindles- Looms- Looms- Looms- Power Employs Notes Date Ring Twist Type NIA Broad Narrow Type NIA Bell Textile Bell sheetings, 80 Factory Factory plaids, tickings, yarns Bell Davisons Bell cotton 89 water 38 plaid looms and 51 Factory Factory sheeting, and sheeting and drill plaids, drills steam looms and yarns Dallas Mill Dockhams Dallas brown and 750 steam Co. bleached sheetings, wide Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas 4-4 to12-4 750 steam 550 Co. brown sheetings Dallas Mill Dockhams Dallas brown and steam Co. bleached sheetings, wide Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas 4-4 to12-4 750 steam 550 Co. brown sheetings Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas 4-4 to 750 steam 550 8 boilers Co.

brown sheetings Dallas Mill Textile Dallas shirting, brown 750 Co. and bleached, 36 to wide Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas 4-4 to 302 448 steam 550 Co. brown sheetings Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas 4-4 to 400 steam Co. brown sheetings Dallas Mill Textile Dallas brown and steam horse power Co. bleached sheetings, TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 38) Mill Directory Directory Company Date Capital Product Spindles- Spindles- Spindles- Looms- Looms- Looms- Power Employs Notes Date Ring Twist Type N/A Broad Narrow Type N/A Dallas Mill Dockhams Dallas brown and 660 888 steam Co. bleached sheetings, wide Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas wide 764 674 steam 144 cards Co. sheetings Dallas Mill Textile Dallas brown and 778 674 steam Co.

bleached sheetings, Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas 36 to 674 792 steam 144 cards, 8 boilers Co. brown and bleached sheetings Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas 36 to 762 704 steam 144 cards Co. brown and bleached sheetings Dallas Mill Textile Dallas sheeting, 763 703 steam Co. Dallas Mill Dockhams Dallas brown and 716 703 steam 900 Co. bleached sheetings, wide Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas 36 to 715 704 steam 144 cards Co. brown and bleached sheetings Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas 36 to 715 704 steam 144 cards Co. brown and bleached sheetings Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas 36 to 715 704 steam 150 cards, 12 boilers Co. brown and bleached sheetings Dallas Mill Dockhams Dallas brown and 716 703 steam 900 Co. bleached sheetings, wide TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No.

AL-141 (Page 39) Mill Directory Directory Company Date Capital Product Spindles- Spindles- Spindles- Looms- Looms- Looms- Power Employs Notes Date Ring Twist Type N/A Broad Narrow Type N/A Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas 36 to 715 704 steam 150 cards Co. brown and bleached sheetings Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas 36 to 715 704 steam 8 boilers, 150 cards Co. brown and bleached sheetings Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas 36 to 715 704 steam 150 cards Co. brown and bleached sheetings Dallas Mill Dockhams Dallas brown and 716 703 steam, 900 do not dye Co. bleached electric sheetings, wide Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas grey and 715 704 steam 700 150 cards, 8 boilers Co. bleached sheetings, wide Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas sheetings 715 704 steam 500 150 cards, 8 boilers Co.

Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas sheetings 715 704 steam 150 cards, buys Co. bales Dallas Mill Davisons Dallas sheetings 700 574 electric 725 150 cards Co. Fletcher Davisons Fletcher 16 to 30 electric 37 cards Mill Mills knitting yarns on cones Helen Mill Davisons Helen Mills flannel and 200 of Alabama birdseye diaper cloth Helen Mill Davisons Helen Mills flannel and 200 of Alabama birdseye diaper cloth Huntsville Textile Huntsville bagging and Bagging & Bagging & ties Tie Co. Tie Co. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No.

AL-141 (Page 40) Mill Directory Directory Company Date Capital Product Spindles- Spindles- Spindles- Looms- Looms- Looms- Power Employs Notes Date Ring Twist Type N/A Broad Narrow Type N/A Huntsville Textile Huntsville yarns Cotton Mill Cotton Mills Huntsville Textile Huntsville yarns Cotton Mill Cotton Mills Huntsville Davisons Huntsville yarns and steam 3 boilers Cotton Mill Cotton Mill warps Co. Huntsville Dockhams Huntsville yarns, warps, steam Cotton Mill Cotton Mill etc. Co. Huntsville Davisons Huntsville 10s to 20s steam 100 55 cards Cotton Mill Cotton Mill warps Co. Huntsville Davisons Huntsville 10s to 20s steam 100 55 cards Cotton Mill Cotton Mill warps Co. Huntsville Davisons Huntsville 10s to 20s steam 100 55 cards, 2 boilers Cotton Mill Cotton Mill warps Co.

Huntsville Textile Huntsville yarns, steam 50 cards Cotton Mill Cotton Mill Co. Huntsville Davisons Huntsville 10s to 20s steam 100 55 cards Cotton Mill Cotton Mill warps Co. Huntsville Davisons Huntsville 10s to 20s steam 100 55 cards, (to increase) Cotton Mill Cotton Mill warps Co. Huntsville Dockhams Huntsville yarns, warps, steam Cotton Mill Cotton Mill etc. Co. Huntsville Textile Huntsville yarns, warps, steam 100 55 cards Cotton Mill Cotton Mill etc., 10s to Co. 20s Huntsville Davisons Huntsville 10s to 20s steam 55 cards Cotton Mill Cotton Mill warps Co. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No.

AL-141 (Page 41) Mill Directory Directory Company Date Capital Product Spindles- Spindles- Spindles- Looms- Looms- Looms- Power Employs Notes Date Ring Twist Type N/A Broad Narrow Type N/A Huntsville Dockhams Huntsville yarns, warps, steam Cotton Mill Cotton Mill etc. Co. Huntsville Davisons Huntsville 10s to 20s steam 24 cards Cotton Mill Cotton Mill warps Co. Huntsville Textile Huntsville yarns, warps, steam 100 55 cards Cotton Mill Cotton Mill etc., 10s to Co. 20s Huntsville Davisons Huntsville 10, 12, 14, 16 150 Cotton Mill Cotton Mill single chain Co. warps and 2 ply skein yarns Huntsville Textile Huntsville cotton yarns, steam Cotton Mill Cotton Mill skeins, warps, Co. 10s to single, double Huntsville Dockhams Huntsville yarns, warps, steam Cotton Mill Cotton Mill etc.(10s to Co.

skein and chain warps Huntsville Davisons Huntsville 10 to 16 skein steam 130 23 cards Cotton Mill Cotton Mill and chain Co. warps Huntsville Davisons Huntsville 23 cards, Idle, For Cotton Mill Cotton Mill Sale Co. Huntsville Textile Huntsville men's cotton steam 28 spring & 8 latch Knitting Knitting fleece-lined needle machines, 50 Mill Co. knit underwear sewing machines, dye and finish Huntsville Davisons Huntsville chambrays 200 electric 250 23 cards, dye, bleach Knitting Knitting Mill Co. Huntsville Dockhams Huntsville chambrays 178 electric do not dye Knitting Knitting (buy) Mill Co. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No.

AL-141 (Page 42) Mill Directory Directory Company Date Capital Product Spindles- Spindles- Spindles- Looms- Looms- Looms- Power Employs Notes Date Ring Twist Type NIA Broad Narrow Type NIA Huntsville Davisons Huntsville sheetings and 200 steam 250 23 cards, 3 boilers Knitting Knitting diaper cloths &elec. Mill Co. Huntsville Dockhams Huntsville sheetings, manager JJ Donegan Co. Co.

ginghams, tucks and plaids Lincoln Mill Dockhams Lincoln ducks, drills, 158 246 steam formerly Abingdon Mills of osnaburgs Mills Alabama Lincoln Mill Davisons Lincoln ducks, drills, 180 180 steam 600 111 C Mills of twills and Alabama osnaburgs Lincoln Mill Davisons Lincoln ducks, drills, 192 152 steam 650 109 cards, 20 pickers, Mills of twills and and 3 boilers Alabama osnaburgs, 7 elec to 13 yarns Lincoln Mill Davisons Lincoln ducks, drills, 250 500 electric 242 cards, 40 pickers, Mills of osnaburgs 3 garnetts Alabama Lincoln Mill Dockhams Lincoln ducks, drills, 202 150 electric 700 19 pickers, 109 cards, Mills of osnaburgs 1 garnett Alabama Lincoln Mill Davisons Lincoln ducks, drills, 250 500 steam 40 pickers, 242 c., 3 Mills of twills and & elec.

boilers Alabama osnaburgs Lincoln Mill Davisons Lincoln ducks, drills, 500 700 electric 450 cards, 65 pickers Mills of twills and Alabama osnaburgs, mop yarns and rope Lincoln Mill Davisons Lincoln ducks, drills, 600 700 steam 450 cards, 65 pickers, Mills of twills, &elec. 3 boilers Alabama osnaburgs and mop yarn Lincoln Mill Davisons Lincoln ducks, drills, 600 700 450 cards, 65 pickers Mills of twills, Alabama osnaburgs and mop yarn TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 43) Mill Directory Directory Company Date Capital Product Spindles- Spindles- Spindles- Looms- Looms- Looms- Power Employs Notes Date Ring Twist Type N/A Broad Narrow Type N/A Lowe Mill Dockhams Lowe yarn, 30s steam Co. Lowe Mill . Textile Lowe yarns, 30s steam Co.

Lowe Mill Davisons Lowe madras 216 steam 250 32 cards, dye and Co. shirtings and finish 30 to 40 yarns Lowe Mill Dockhams Lowe yarn, 30s and 216 steam Co. madras shirtings Lowe Mill Davisons Lowe ginghams, 240 steam 400 50 cards, dye and Co. madras finish shirtings and 30 to 40 yarns Lowe Mill Textile Lowe yarns, 216 steam 900 60 cards, dye house Co. ginghams, madras, etc. Lowe Mill Davisons Lowe ginghams, 240 steam 400 50 cards, dye and Co. madras finish, 6 boilers shirtings and 30 to 40 yarns for market Lowe Mill Davisons Lowe ginghams, 234 steam 350 50 cards, dye and Co. madras finish shirtings and 30 to 40 yarns Lowe Mill Textile Lowe shirtings and 500 steam bleach, dye and finish Co. dress goods Lowe Mill Dockhams Lowe yarn, 30s and 720 306 306 steam 8 pickers, 54 cards Co.

and madras shirtings Lowe Mill Davisons Lowe ginghams, 576 electric 400 54 cards, dye, bleach Co. madras and finish shirtings and 30 to 40 yarns TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 44) Mill Directory Directory Company Date Capital Product Spindles- Spindles- Spindles- Looms- Looms- Looms- Power Employs Notes Date Ring Twist Type N/A Broad Narrow Type N/A Lowe Mill Davisons Lowe ginghams, 576 steam 400 54 cards, dye, bleach Co. madras and and finish, 7 boilers shirtings and elec. 30 to 40 yarns Lowe Mill Dockhams Lowe yarn, 30s and 720 306 306 steam 450 Co. madras &elec. shirtings and ginghams Lowe Mill Davisons Lowe ginghams and 612 electric 600 54 cards, dye, bleach, Co. shirtings finish Lowe Mill Davisons Lowe ginghams and 702 electric 600 54 cards Co.

shirtings Lowe Mill Davisons Lowe ginghams 756 electric 550 54 cards, dye, bleach, Co. finish. est. inc. Lowe Mill Dockhams Lowe yarn 252 504 electric 525 8 pickers, 54 cards, Co. romper dye raw stock, yarns, cloth, bleach, finish ginghams, chambray Lowe Mill Davisons Lowe ginghams 756 steam 550 54 cards, 7 boilers Co. & elec. Lowe Mill Davisons Lowe grey goods 756 electric 550 54 cards, dye, bleach Co. and finish Lowe Mill Davisons Lowe grey goods 384 276 steam 500 76 cards, 2 boilers Co. &elec. Lowe Mill Davisons Lowe idle, 660 76 cards, idle Co. Madison Davisons Madison print cloths, 172 336 steam 30 cards Mill Co. twills and satteens Madison Textile Madison print cloths 172 353 steam 600 Mill Co. and converter's goods Madison Davisons Madison yarns proposed Spinning Spinning Mill Co.

TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 45) Mill Directory Directory Company Date Capital Product Spindles- Spindles- Spindles- Looms- Looms- Looms- Power Employs Notes Date Ring Twist Type N/A Broad Narrow Type N/A Madison Dockhams Madison hoisery yarns steam Spinning Spinning Mill Co. Madison Textile Madison hoisery yarns steam Spinning Spinning Mill Co. Madison Dockhams Madison print cloths, 172 338 steam Spinning Spinning sateens, twills Mill Co.

Margaret Dockhams Margaret yarn 20s to steam 200 do not dye, formerly Mill Mills 30s single, Huntsville Cotton Mill cones or tubes Margaret Davisons Margaret 24 to 30 single steam 200 31 cards Mill Mills yarn on cones Margaret Davisons Margaret 24 to 30 single steam 200 31 cards, 2 boilers Mill Mills yarn on cones Margaret Davisons Margaret 18 to 30 electric 250 42 cards Mill Mills hoisery yarn on cones Margaret Dockhams Margaret yarn 20s to electric 200 do not dye Mill Mills 30s single, cones or tubes Margaret Davisons Margaret 18 to 30 electric 250 42 cards Mill Mills hoisery yarn on cones Margaret Davisons Margaret 18 to 30 electric 250 42 cards Mill Mills hoisery yarn on cones Merrimack Davisons Merrimack 700 proposed by Lowell, Mill Co.

MA company Merrimack Davisons Merrimack print cloths 800 steam 375 new mill Mill Co. Merrimack Dockhams Merrimack print cloths 850 steam Mill Co. Merrimack Textile Merrimack print cloths 848 steam 375 216 cards Mill Co. Merrimack Davisons Merrimack print cloths steam see Lowell, MA Mill Co. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 46) Mill Directory Directory Company Date Capital Product Spindles- Spindles- Spindles- Looms- Looms- Looms- Power Employs Notes Date Ring Twist Type N/A Broad Narrow Type N/A Merrimack Dockhams Merrimack standard print steam branch of Lowell, MA Mill Co. cloths only mill Merrimack Davisons Merrimack print cloths 202 steam Mill Co. Merrimack Textile Merrimack print cloths 848 steam 575 216 cards Mill Co.

Merrimack Davisons Merrimack lawns and 202 steam 8 boilers, 210 cards, Mill Co. print cloths see Lowell, MA Merrimack Davisons Merrimack lawns and 602 steam 210 cards Mill Co. print cloths Merrimack Textile Merrimack prints, steam Mill Co. organdies and percales Merrimack Dockhams Merrimack standard steam branch of Lowell, MA Mill Co. prints, mill percales, organdies, etc. Merrimack Davisons Merrimack lawns and 602 steam 210 cards, see Lowell, Mill Co. print cloths MA Merrimack Davisons Merrimack lawns and 602 steam see Lowell, MA Mill Co. print cloths Merrimack Davisons Merrimack lawns and steam 850 8 boilers, see Lowell, Mill Co. print cloths MA Merrimack Davisons Merrimack lawns and steam 850 see Lowell, MA Mill Co.

print cloths Merrimack Davisons Merrimack lawns and steam 850 8 boilers Mill Co. print cloths Merrimack Davisons Merrimack lawns and steam 850 see Lowell, MA Mill Co. print cloths Merrimack Dockhams Merrimack standard electric branch of Lowell, MA Mill Co. prints, mill percales, organdies, khaki, etc. Merrimack Davisons Merrimack lawns and steam 850 8 boilers Mill Co. print cloths Merrimack Davisons Merrimack lawns and steam 850 see Lowell, MA Mill Co. print cloths TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 47) Mill Directory Directory Company Date Capital Product Spindles- Spindles- Spindles- Looms- Looms- Looms- Power Employs Notes Date Ring Twist Type NIA Broad Narrow Type NIA Merrimack Davisons Merrimack lawns and steam 850 Mill Co.

print cloths Merrimack Davisons Merrimack lawns and steam 850 Mill Co. print cloths Merrimack Davisons Merrimack print cloths steam 850 see Lowell, MA, 8 Mill Co.

boilers West Dockhams West yarns steam mill still just proposed Huntsville Huntsville at this time Cotton Mill Cotton Mills West Davisons West yarns, 4s to steam 125 30 cards Huntsville Huntsville 16s Cotton Mill Cotton Mills West Dockhams West yarns (4 to steam Huntsville Huntsville single to Cotton Mill Cotton five-ply Mills West Davisons West yarns, 4s to steam 125 30 cards, 2 boilers Huntsville Huntsville 12s and ball Cotton Mill Cotton twine Mills West Textile West cotton yarns, steam Huntsville Huntsville ball Cotton Mill Cotton twine Mills West Davisons West yarns, 4s to 8s steam 250 30 cards Huntsville Huntsville and ball twine Cotton Mill Cotton Mills West Davisons West yarns, 4s to steam 350 24 cards Huntsville Huntsville 1Os, ball twine Cotton Mill Cotton Mills West Dockhams West yarns (4 to steam Huntsville Huntsville single to Cotton Mill Cotton Co.

ball sail twine TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No. AL-141 (Page 48) Mill Directory Directory Company Date Capital Product Spindles- Spindles- Spindles- Looms- Looms- Looms- Power Employs Notes Date Ring Twist Type NIA Broad Narrow Type N/A West Textile West yarns, 2s to steam 350 24 cards Huntsville Huntsville 1Os, ball twine Cotton Mill Cotton and cable cord Mills West Davisons West yarns, 4s to steam 200 26 cards Huntsville Huntsville 10s and ball Cotton Mill Cotton twine Mills West Dockhams West yarns (2 to steam 2 pickers, 26 cards Huntsville Huntsville single to Cotton Mill Cotton Co.

seven-ply, ball sail twine West Textile West yarns, 2s to steam 350 24 cards Huntsville Huntsville 1Os, ball twine Cotton Mill Cotton and cable cord Mills West Davisons West ply steam 200 26 cards, 2 boilers Huntsville Huntsville carpet yarns Cotton Mill Cotton and all no. Mills warps to 14 West Davisons West ply electric 185 26 cards Huntsville Huntsville carpet yarns, Cotton Mill Cotton all no.

warps Mills to 14 West Textile West cotton yarns, steam Huntsville Huntsville warps, & Cotton Mill Cotton skeins, ball Mills twine, 2s to single and plied West Davisons West 2 to 16, steam 185 26 cards Huntsville Huntsville weaving, Cotton Mill Cotton knitting and Mills carpet yarns West Davisons West 2 to 14, steam 185 26 cards Huntsville Huntsville weaving, Cotton Mill Cotton knitting and Mills carpet yarns, skeins, tubes, cones, warps TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA HAER No.

AL-141 (Page 49) Mill Directory Directory Company Date Capital Product Spindles- Spindles- Spindles- Looms- Looms- Looms- Power Employs Notes Date Ring Twist Type N/A Broad Narrow Type N/A West Davisons West 2 to 14, steam 185 26 cards, 2 pickers, 2 Huntsville Huntsville weaving, boilers Cotton Mill Cotton knitting and Mills carpet yarns, skeins, tubes, cones, warps West Davisons West weaving and steam& 300 28 cards, 2 pickers, 2 Huntsville Huntsville carpet yarns, elec.

boilers Cotton Mill Cotton skeins, tubes, Mills cones West Davisons West 2 to 12 electric 300 28 cards, 2 pickers Huntsville Huntsville weaving and Cotton Mill Cotton carpet yarns, Mills skeins, tubes, cones West Dockhams West coarse yarns electric 250 4 pickers, 28 cards, do Huntsville Huntsville (2 to not dye Cotton Mill Cotton single and ply Mills in skeins, tubes and cones West Davisons West 2 to 12 steam 300 28 cards, 2 pickers, 1 Huntsville Huntsville weaving and & elec. boiler Cotton Mill Cotton carpet yarns, Mills skeins, tubes, cones West Davisons Seidman braids, tapes, machinery dismantled Huntsville Braid and upholstery and former West Cotton Mill Fabrics goods Huntsville Cotton Mill Corp leased to Seidman Braid & Fabrics Coro.