Textile Industry in LaGrange, Georgia, La Grange

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER GA,143-LAGR,37-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The history of the textile industry in LaGrange, Georgia parallels its development in the entire Piedmont section of the Southeastern United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The first mill in LaGrange, LaGrange Mill was constructed during the cotton mill building boom of the The continued expansion of the Southern textile industry during the early twentieth century began to rival the dominance of the major New England mills. From to four cotton mills were built in the unincorporated area of Southwest LaGrange, all under the leadership of local merchant and entrepreneur Fuller E. Callaway.

Starting with Unity Mill and its associated mill worker housing in the addition of Elm City Cotton Mill in Unity C Spinning in and Hillside Mill in transformed the southwest area of LaGrange into a series of overlapping mill neighborhoods. Southwest LaGrange features a remarkable collection of TEXTILE

Industry in

LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo. GA-98 (Page 46) early twentieth century mill buildings and associated textile industry structures such as warehouses, and mill worker housing built incrementally using various popular house types as the mills expanded.

Source document Quoted word for word from HAER GA,143-LAGR,37-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

The documentation of LaGrange, Georgia's textile industry was part of the Southern Textile Industry Project conducted by the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, and started by Dean A. Herrin, HAER Historian. Study of the former LaGrange/Calumet Mill and the Callaway Mils in was sponsored by the Troup County Historical Society (LaGrange, Georgia), and financed in part with Federal funds from the National Park Service, US Dept. of Interior, through the Historic Preservation Division of the GA Dept. of Natural Resources. Kaye Lanning Minchew, Director, Troup County Archives, directed the funding and conception of this project. Drawings were produced by Richard K.

Anderson, Cultural Resource Documentation Services, Sumter, South Carolina. Lisa Pfueller Davidson, HAER/NCSHPO Historian, served as project leader and historian. Jet Lowe, HAER staff photographer, completed large format photographs. C TEXTILE

Industry in

LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo. GA-98 (Page 47) The Callaway Mills in LaGrange, Georgia and the Emergence of a Southern Textile Industry, The history of the textile industry in LaGrange, Georgia parallels its development in the entire Piedmont section of the Southeastern United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The first two mills in LaGrange, LaGrange Mill and Dixie Mill were constructed during the cotton mill building boom of the and The continued expansion of the Southern textile industry during the early twentieth century began to rival the dominance of the major New England mills. From to four cotton mills were built in the unincorporated area of Southwest LaGrange, all under the leadership of local merchant and entrepreneur Fuller E. Callaway.

Starting with Unity Mill and its associated mill worker housing in the addition of Elm City Cotton Mill in Unity Spinning in and Hillside Mill in transformed the southwest area of LaGrange into a series of overlapping mill neighborhoods. Southwest LaGrange's remarkable collection of early- twentieth-century mill buildings and associated textile industry structures such as warehouses, and mill worker housing was built incrementally using various popular house types as the mills expanded. This report will build on previous Historic American Engineering Record research focusing on Dixie Mill (HAER No. GA-99). LaGrange Mill (later Calumet Mill), the first in LaGrange, is no longer extant.

However, the mill's architectural and technological features will be discussed using evidence from historic photographs and drawings. The rest of this project will consider the four major early-twentieth-century mills constructed in Southwest LaGrange by Fuller E. Callaway - Unity, Elm City, Unity Spinning, and Hillside. These mills and their associated worker housing will be examined within the context of mill architecture, technology, and vernacular Southern house types of the early twentieth century. Regional and Local Textile Industry Overview Southern textile manufacturing became a major part of the regional economy in the late nineteenth century.

A few antebellum textile mills, most notably those in Graniteville, South Carolina, and Prattville, Alabama attempted to create major Southern textile manufacturing sites based on the New England model. Most antebellum Southern mills were small endeavors producing coarse, homespun fabrics.

Troup Factory, located nine miles outside of LaGrange, was founded as a grist mill in and began making sheetings and homespun textiles in It was a modest two-story wood frame structure with a small belfry near one gable end.2 This small scale and predominantly vertical form was typical of the first generation of cotton mills in the 1 This small operation remained on the outskirts of town until when it moved into a new structure in southwest LaGrange and operated as Park Mill from Park Mill i opened with only spindles and 52 looms. 2 See photograph in Troup County Archives, MS 107 Forrest Clark Johnson Collection, Series III Photographs, Box 1, Folder 6. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo. GA-98 (Page 48) South.

Immediately after the Civil War, many Southern communities looked to industrial development as means of recovery after the economic ruin of the war. Historians have debated the nature of the post-war industrial expansion in the South. Many scholars, led by economic historian Broadus Mitchell's classic work, The Rise of Cotton Mills in the South, saw the emergence of the textile industry as an unprecedented economic shift from the agricultural dependance of the Old South. More recently, historians have seen the late-nineteenth-century mill building boom as an extension of trends begun during the antebellum period and interrupted by the upheaval of the Civil War.

Regardless, the extent and scale of industrial development in the late nineteenth century was unlike the modest beginnings earlier in the century. The creation of a distinctive mill village culture based in the paternalism of mill companies shaped the growth of the entire region for almost a hundred years.3 LaGrange's location in western Georgia linked it to the local textile industry that first developed on the Alabama side of the Chattahoochee River immediately after the war. In the Alabama-Georgia Manufacturing Company and the Chattahoochee Manufacturing Company both built mills on the banks of the Chattahoochee.4 Each planned to utilize water power from the river to make osnaburg, a coarse fabric.

After the depression in both mills came under the control of Lafayette Lanier and were upgraded to produce cotton duck. In Lanier reorganized as the West Point Manufacturing Company headquartered in West Point, Georgia.5 These early examples of post-war textile mill development in the Chattahoochee River valley only foreshadowed the major mill building boom of the next generation. New England had traditionally been the center of the textile industry in the United States, but many "New South" entrepreneurs and Northern investors sponsored mill building projects that created a new industrial landscape across the Piedmont region of the South. Initially the geography of the Piedmont region provided numerous sites along fall lines for water powered mills.

An abundance of poor white labor in this area was another factor in the growth of a regional textile industry. The International Cotton Exposition held in Atlanta in was very influential in promoting the idea of mill building to small communities throughout the Piedmont and later credited with starting the spread of "mill fever'* throughout the South. During the the number of spindles in the four leading Southern textile states - North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and 3 Broadus Mitchell. The Rise of Cotton Mills in the South. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 4 These mills were later known as Riverdale Cotton Mill and Langdale Cotton Mill. See c HAERNos. AL-165, AL-166, and AL-167 for more information. 5 See Joseph L.

Lanier, The First 75 Years of the West Point Manufacturing Company, (New York: TheNewcomen Society, TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo.GA-98 (Page 49) Alabama - increased By there were spindles in the South; were located in Georgia mills.7 LaGrange was also affected by "mill fever** in the Improvements in the technology for steam power released mills from dependance on river bank sites. Instead good railroad access became a dominant factor in the location of textile mills in new areas. LaGrange was the county seat and an important regional commercial center with established railroad connections. The first modern textile mill in LaGrange was a steam-powered mill built in just southeast of the courthouse square.

The LaGrange Oil and Manufacturing Company utilized the local railroad connections and enthusiasm for mill building to add a textile production division to its operations. Soon the textile aspect of the business overshadowed the original oil and cotton gin function. The second mill in LaGrange was Dixie Cotton Mill, built northeast of downtown in A group of Northern and local investors raised the capital for the mill designed by Charles A. M. Praray of Makepeace & Co. from Providence, Rhode Island.

Dixie featured an unusual mill structural system with non-load bearing walls and series of repeating triangular window bays patented by Praray in Across the river in Lanett, Alabama, the massive new Lanett Cotton Mill was constructed in and expanded in using conventional slow-burning mill construction. All of these mills utilized steam power, moving textile mill development away from the river banks and closer to railroad lines for easier delivery of raw materials and shipment of products. After the turn of the century, the textile mill boom in the South continued to gain momentum. The textile industry grew tremendously in LaGrange during this period as well. The first unit in the subsequent Callaway Mills group, Unity Mill, was built in Southwest LaGrange in (see HAER No. GA-127).

Then Elm City Cotton Mill see HAER No. GA- and Unity Spinning Mill see HAER No. GA-129) were built nearby, creating a continuous mill village neighborhood in a previously undeveloped area on the outskirts of LaGrange. Callaway added Hillside Mill (HAER No. GA-130) and its associated worker housing and community buildings to the grouping in 6 Betsy W. Bahr. "New England Mill Engineering: Rationalization and Reform in Textile Mill Design, D. diss., University of Delaware, The late- nineteenth-century boom in the Southern textile industry has been well documented by historians. For example, see David L. Carlton, Mill and Town in South Carolina, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, James T.

Cobb, Industrialization and Southern Society, Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, or Melvin Thomas Copeland, The Cotton Manufacturing Industry of the United States. New York: Augustus M. Kelly, For a primary account of this trend, see "The South's Cotton Mills," ^ Manufacturers'Record 12 (4 February 7 Walter G. Cooper, "The Condition of Southern Cotton Mills," Dixie (December 24. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo. GA-98 (Page 50) Beyond the Callaway mills in southwest LaGrange, Joseph Eugene Dunson built Dunson Mill in Dunson was one of the earlier investors with Callaway in southwest LaGrange, but clashed with Callaway over control of those mills.

This clash prompted the creation of a new holding company, Calumet, in Dunson built his own textile mill in the northeast section of LaGrange near Dixie. Other new mills were constructed in nearby towns during this period as well. The Hogansville Manufacturing Company built a mill in nearby Hogansville, Georgia in The West Point Manufacturing Co. expanded its operations in Chambers County, Alabama with construction of Shawmut Mill in and Fairfax Mill in The growth of the textile industry during World War I generated another wave of Southern mill building.

In there were spindles in the South compared with in the North, finally ending New England's hundred year reign as the leading textile manufacturing region.8 In Troup County, New England Southern Cotton Mills built Stark Milt to double its Hogansville operations in (see HAER No. GA-117). Callaway Mills also added two major divisions to existing mill complexes in Southwest LaGrange.

Valway Rug Mill was added to the Hillside Mill complex in and Oakleaf Mill was added to Unity Spinning in Mill Architecture and Engineering All of the early-twentieth-century mills built in and near LaGrange used a method of slow- burning construction promoted by the Factory Mutual Insurance companies starting in the Concerns about the economic impact of mill fires led the Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Companies, under the leadership of Edward Atkinson, to sponsor experiments on the best construction and fire safety techniques. Textile companies that followed the recommendations regarding fire safety and construction received lower premiums.

This approach was revolutionary in contrast to the usual laissez-faire attitude of fire insurance companies, as described by Edward Atkinson in Until within a very recent period the management of an insurance company issuing policies of indemnity against loss by fire has consisted mainly in taking risks as they might happen to be, a more or less careful inspection having been made into the condition of the property before issuing a policy, for the purpose of estimating the rate of premium to be charged rather than with a view to improving such conditions.9 The more proactive stance taken by the Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Companies starting in the had a major impact on the form and structure of mill architecture. "Mildred Gwin Andrews.

The Men and the Mills: A History of the Southern Textile i~ Industry. (Macon: Mercer University Press, 85. 9 Edward Atkinson. "Slow-Burning Construction," Century Magazine (February TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo.GA-98 (Page 51) Slow-burning construction, as promoted by the Factory Mutual companies, utilized a heavy timber interior frame, and masonry, typically brick, walls. This construction method was considered to be the most economical, using readily available materials structured in a manner to minimize the danger of fires spreading and completely destroying the mill. Concealed spaces, particularly inside floors or walls, were eliminated, minimizing the opportunities for fire to spread.

An insurance engineering report quoted in the edition of Frank Eugene Kidder' s Architect's andBuilder'sPocket-book described mill construction "so disposing the timber and plank in heavy solid masses as to expose the least number of corners or ignitable projections to fire, to the end also that when fire occurs it may be most readily reached by water from sprinklers or hose." It was also important to separate "every floor from every other floor by incombustible stops...so that a fire shall be retarded in passing from floor to floor."10 Instead of tall, narrow structures with attic spaces under gable roofs, typified by the early-nineteenth-century New England mill, late-nineteenth-century mills were typically lower and wider in form with nearly flat roofs.

The change in mill form was dramatic and slow-burning construction became synonymous with mill architecture.11 The standard slow burning construction advocated by the Factory Mutual insurance companies came to dominate modern mill construction by the but other key issues also shaped mill design during the late-nineteenth-century. With wider mills, particularly in the South, mill engineers were presented with the challenge of providing adequate lighting for mill interiors without over-reliance on costly artificial lighting systems. Motive systems were evolving as well with the first electric powered mill in Columbia, SC in and more sophisticated steam power systems.

In milt engineer Stephen Greene succinctly described the impact of the shift from water to steam power on mill design: With the advent of the automatic cut-off steam engine with which the name of Corliss is indissolubly connected, the field was opened for a still further modificiation of mill design.

It was not longer necessary to select a site by the river bank where the topography was more characteristic for its beauty than for its utility; but a spot could be chosen where a mill could be built much more 10 Frank Eugene Kidder, The Architect's andBuilder's Pocketbook, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Kidder, The Architect's and Builder's Pocketbook, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 11 See Bahr, "New England Mill Engineering;" Lindy Biggs, The Rational Factory: Architecture, Technology, and Work in America's Age ofMass Production.

Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, and Sara Wermiel, "The Development of Fireproof Construction in Great Britain and the United States in the Nineteenth Century," Construction History 9 Useful primary sources include Edward Atkinson, "Slow-Burning Construction," Century ( Magazine (February and Charles J. H. Woodbury (Inspector for Factory Mutual Fire Insurance Cos.), Fire Protection of Mills and Construction ofMill Floors (New York, ed.)). TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo.GA-98 (Page 52) economically, and where the requisites of light and ventilation could be met in a much more satisfactory manner.12 Also integral to the dominance of slow-burning construction for mill architecture was the growth of mill engineering as a profession.

The Boston-based engineering firm, Lockwood, Greene & Co. was one of the largest. They opened a Southern office in Greenville, South Carolina in J. E. Sirrine was in charge of Lockwood Greene's Southern office and later started his own firm based in Greenville. Other major New England mill engineering firms working in the South were Charles Makepeace & Co. and Charles T. Main. The most prominent native Southern mill engineer at the turn-of-the-century was D. A Tompkins, who opened his mill engineering firm in Charlotte, North Carolina in Stuart A. Cramer and W. B. Smith Whaley were other well-known Southern mill engineers. A. Francis Walker, who designed the Unity and Elm City mills for the Callaways, was an Atlanta-based mill engineer originally from Framingham, Massachusetts.

Park Dallis, another Atlanta-based engineer who designed Unity Spinning and Hillside Mills for the Callaways, began his career working for J. E. Sirrine. Professional mill engineers, although their training varied, provided important technical expertise as integration of production and building became more complex and crucial to efficient mill management.13 The Southern Mill Village - Industrial Paternalism The rise of cotton mills in the South was accompanied by the growth of mill villages throughout the Piedmont. Graniteville, South Carolina was perhaps the most famous antebellum example. Founder William Gregg constructed a series of Gothic Revival cottages near his water- powered mill, creating an industrial village from previously undeveloped land.

Gregg's use of poor white rather than slave labor was a solution to the problem of staffing his factory that combined profit and philanthropy. Gregg wrote in that "it is only necessary to build a manufacturing village of shanties, in a healthy location in any part of the State, to have crowds of these poor people around you, seeking employment at half the compensation given to operatives at the North."14 New England mills constructed worker housing, but the rural nature of the Southern Piedmont created an unique Southern mill village landscape. The typical nineteenth- century mill village featured small wooden vernacular cottages arranged with individual lots along grid-plan streets. Sanitation facilities and amenities like common pasture land could vary.

Even if located near an established town, mill villages were often politically and socially separate. Given the rural labor population that cotton mills were trying to attract, the early mill village served as a transitional zone between a farming lifestyle and the discipline of industrial work. 12 Stephen Greene, "The Influence of Motive Power on the Design of Cotton Mill," Cassier's Magazine 16 (July 13 Bahr, 14 William Gregg, Essays on Domestic Industry, (Graniteville, SC: Graniteville Company, C (reprint of ed.)), 49. For more information on Graniteville, see U. S. Department of the Interior, Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), No. "Graniteville Mill," Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo.

GA-98 (Page 53) Southern mill villages were based on a paternalistic family labor model. Entire families were encouraged to give up substistance farming and relocate to the mill village. Often several members of the family were required to work in the mill, with many children starting work in the mill as young as ten or twelve years old. As many scholars have pointed out, "women and children had always been essential to farmwork, and the mill owners understood this fact and adapted it to their own needs."15 The mill company provided housing for low rents, and was able to police and control its labor force even when not in the mill. In return for adhering to the rules, the mill workers received jobs, services, and recreational opportunities.

Service and opportunities varied widely among different mill villages. By the early twentieth century, the Southern textile industry became infamous for its "mill hills" of squalid housing and illiterate workers. Movements to improve mill village housing and amenities grew out of national labor reform efforts during the Progressive Era. Many Southern mill companies hired professional planners to lay out new mill villages according to contemporary suburban design principles. The typical pattern of small single-family and duplex dwellings continued, but often streets would follow the natural contours of the topography, sanitation facilities were improved, and popular bungalow and other mail-order house types replaced the Southern vernacular forms of the late nineteenth century.

Many progressive Southern mill companies, including Callaway Mills in LaGrange, began to build a wide array of employee facilities such as schools, churches, recreation centers, baseball fields, stores, and greenhouses to enhance worker loyalty in an increasingly tight labor market.16 LaGrange Mill: First Modern Cotton Mill in LaGrange The first mill built within the city limits of LaGrange was the LaGrange Mill. The LaGrange Oil and Manufacturing Company was chartered in with plans to operate a cotton seed oil mill, cotton gin, and textile mill.17 The oil mill and gin opened first, and then the textile mill was constructed in A two-story cotton warehouse, a dwelling, a rock grist and 15 John A. Salmond. Gastonia The Story of the Loray Mill Strike.

(Chapel Hill & London: The University of North Carolina Press), 3. 16 For information about the society and labor patterns of the Southern mill village see Douglas Flamming. Creating the Modern South: Millhands and Managers in Dalton,Georgia, 1884-1984.Ch&pe\ Hill: University of North Carolina Press, or Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, James Leloudis, Robert Korstad, Mary Murphy, Lu Ann Jones, and Christopher B. Daly. Like a Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, A good secondary source on the design of early twentieth century mill villages is Margaret Crawford. Building the Workingman's Paradise: The Design ofAmerican Company Towns. New f York: Verso, "[charter for LaGrange Oil and Manufacturing Co.] LaGrange Reporter (20 September 2.

The original charter does indicate plans to eventually build a textile mill. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo. GA-98 (Page 54) flouring mill, a cotton seed oil mill and several cottages were already located on the 10-acre site.18 The textile mill was located near the corner of Hines and Morgan Streets just a short distance southeast of the courthouse square in LaGrange. The LaGrange Oil Mill was located closer to Morgan Street on the other side of an Atlantic & West Point Railroad siding.19 Many of the original investors were local business and professional men; the local press praised the proposed cotton mill in language typical of New South boosterism: ...we are going to begin manufacturing in earnest.

That the change will be a blessing all around is as clear as that two and two make four. The material to be worked into cloth whitens our fields; the labor is here, waiting to be employed; we have the capital, not only to pay for this enterprise, but to double and treble its capacity as soon as it may be deemed practical.20 When this optimistic passage was being written in December the mill structure was almost complete. The roof and floors were in place, and many of the window frames. The 125 foot boiler stack was complete and 325 horse power Corliss engine in place. One car load of production machinery had arrived with more expected in the next few weeks. In April the LaGrange Reporter described the mill as "handsome and ornate.

It is 220 feet in length, 80 feet in width, with an L [sic] for engine, force pump and boiler, extending 150 feet. It cost about A. N. Davenport was managing construction prior to being general manager of the mill, however available sources do not reveal whether a professional engineer or architect was involved in the design of LaGrange Mill. Clearly the design reflected the current trends for cotton mill architecture. During this period, the Factory Mutual Insurance Companies were just beginning to establish their standards for fire protection equipment and construction. LaGrange Mill was a slow burning brick and heavy timber structure, which allowed for more favorable insurance rates.

Fire protection equipment included automatic sprinklers and fire pails throughout the mill.22 The exterior of the mill was brick with raised piers between each bay of arched windows. The most striking feature of the mill was the stair tower in the center of the main elevation. A 18 "The LaGrange Mills," LaGrange Reporter (25 April 1. 19 Sanborn Map Company, LaGrange, Georgia, (New York: Sanborn Map Company, 20 "Music of the Spindle," LaGrange Reporter (6 December 1. 21 "The LaGrange Mills " LaGrange Reporter (25 April 1. 22, Sanborn Map Company, LaGrange, Georgia, (New York: Sanborn Map Company, TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo. GA-98 (Page 55) small flight of exterior stairs led up to the main doorway.

Simple decorative brickwork on the exterior of the tower included hoods over the bottom two levels of window openings, and a thick band outlining the edges and top of the tower. On the third level round windows with spoked mullions also had a raised brick outline. Above the band of brick at the top of the tower the brick was corbeled to flare slightly outward. The tower was crowned by a slate-covered mansard roof with a hipped roof dormer on all four sides. Even the smaller and plainer water closet tower on the rear elevation had a smaller version of the mansard roof on the stair tower.

These popular Victorian architectural motifs gave a fashionable touch to this industrial building, a technique particularly important given the location of LaGrange Mill close to the courthouse square.23 The March Sanborn Fire Insurance Map included site plans of LaGrange Mills that illustrated its original interior arrangement. LaGrange Mill was to originally contain spindles and 75 looms operated by 100 female and 50 male mill hands producing white cotton duck, a heavy, canvas-like cloth. The map showed the stair tower projecting from the east elevation and water closet protruding from the west, as well as the engine shop and boiler house, perpendicular to the main structure on the south side of the west elevation.

The boiler house and stack for generating steam power was furthest away from the mill, and fueled the Corliss engine to move a rope drive. The ropeway extending from the engine shop connected the power source to the shafting and belts that moved the machinery. The narrow, two-story space of the ropeway divided the mill into two unequal sections. The smaller southern section contained the picker and cloth rooms. Raw cotton first entered the picker room on the south end of the mill, then traveled across the second floor of the larger northern section of the mill through the drawing, speeding, carding, and spinning parts of the process. The resulting thread then was moved to the first floor for warping, twisting, spooling, and weaving.

Locating weaving on the first floor of the mill was a common arrangement because of the weight and vibration of the looms. The cotton duck product was finally stored back on the south end of the mill in the cloth room.24 The mill was powered and heated by steam, but also brought important advances in electric lighting to the city of LaGrange. In June LaGrange Mills contracted with the Thomas A. Edison Electric Light Co. to furnish incandescent lighting for the mill. LaGrange Mills provided the city with electric lights, each sixteen candle power around the same time.

The excess electricity from the dynamo at LaGrange Mill provided the first electric power for other parts of downtown LaGrange."25 The mill was lighted with electricity for the first time in November and an additional dynamo was added to provide power for several local businesses.26 23 See photographs from Lockwood Greene Engineers, Spartanburg, SC - copies located in the Troup County Archives. 24 Ibid. C 2b LaGrange Reporter (20 June 5. 26 LaGrange Reporter (14 November 5. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo. GA-98 (Page 56) Worker housing for the new mill was built on a small rise to the east of the industrial complex.

The LaGrange Reporter described the operatives' cottages on April 25, The operative's cottages are situated on the opposite side of the railroad track from the factory, and look like a small village, independent of classic LaGrange. There are twenty-seven, each containing six rooms, and will accommodate fifty- four families. They are double cottages - two bed rooms and a kitchen on each side - are divided by a partition, and so constructed that one chimney serves four fireplaces. ...The cottages are nicely furnished and are as comfortable as any fine residence in LaGrange. The operatives who have already moved in are delighted with them.

They cost about each, or about in all.27 The Sanborn Map showed seventeen nearly identical worker dwellings east of the mill on small lots roughly in a grid pattern. The LaGrange Reporter described the mill village area on a bluff overlooking the mill as "very picturesque." The paper went on to say that "it is to regretted that the houses are rather close together, but this objection is largely overcome by the elevation and the healthfulness of their location - the drainage being simply perfect and no possible cause for sickness anywhere around."2* The LaGrange Mill dwellings were 1 1/2-story houses four bays wide and two bays deep, although nearly square in plan (see HAER Nos. GA-132; GA-134; GA-136). Two doors and a dividing wall in the center designated these as two family dwellings.

Building duplexes instead of single-family dwellings would have reduced construction costs. All the houses had a low pitched gable-on-hip roof and center chimney, a distinctive form common in French-influenced Southern vernacular architecture of the nineteenth century. A one-story kitchen ell, two bays wide and one bay deep with a center chimney, was attached to each structure. A pent-roof porch with decorative post brackets extended across the two center bays of the front elevation of each house, and many had additional rear porches on either end of the one-story ell. As was typical with Southern vernacular housing, the houses were raised on brick piers.

Three more houses of the same type were shown on the April Sanborn map, as well as a Methodist Church for mill workers at the entrance to the mill village neighborhood at Hines and Adelaide Streets. Two additional upright-and-wing houses in this grouping appear to be single-family homes probably used by supervisors. By May LaGrange Mill had been expanded to contain a total of spindles and 124 looms. An addition identical in plan to the main section of the original building was built on the south end of the mill. A stair tower with a nearly identical mansard roof was placed in the center of east elevation to mirror the original section, as well as a water closet tower on the west C 27 "The LaGrange Mills," LaGrange Reporter (25 April 1. 28 "Factoriana," XoGrowge Reporter (21 March 4.

TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo.GA-98 (Page 57) elevation. The addition contained weaving on the first floor and carding on the second.29 The original engine and boilers were intended to operated at double their initial capacity for easier future expansion.30 A two-week shutdown in October was necessarily to install new boilers and rearrange the shafting and machinery. The two new 100-horse power boilers were purchased from Cole of Newnan, bringing the total number of boilers up to six.

A new larger warehouse with a dry sprinkler system was added along Morgan Street near the oil plant, as well as a long rectangular building housing a carpenter shop, machine shop and foundry between the new warehouse and the textile mill.31 The work force had been expanded by adding a night shift while the mill addition was under construction, and then the new hands were employed in the new section of the mill.32 With the doubling of manufacturing capacity came new worker housing construction. Moving away from the distinctive gable-on-hip roofed duplexes of the initial period of housing construction, new houses of several common forms such as L-shaped, and hall and parlor plans were constructed on new streets expanding the mill neighborhood to the east and south (see HAER No.

GA-133; GA-135). In LaGrange Mill was acquired by the United States Cotton Duck Corporation. U.S. Cotton Duck owned a number of mills in New England and the South and was rapidly acquiring new subsidiaries in According to the LaGrange Reporter; the takeover of LaGrange Mill, nearby Hogansville Manufacturing Company, and several other mills gave U.S. Cotton Duck control of 98% of the cotton duck manufacturing in the United States.33 In International Cotton Mills, a manufacturing division of Lockwood, Greene Engineers of Boston, purchased both the LaGrange and Hogansville Mills from Consolidated Cotton Duck. The mill continued to produce cotton duck as International Cotton Mills made some improvements in the mill village area.

A Craftsman-style community building featuring meeting rooms, a pool, and gymnasium was built on Hines Street. Employee welfare programs became common for Southern cotton mills during the Progressive Era as a means to attract workers and counteract the criticism of labor reformers. The new community building at the LaGrange Plant was an important example of these efforts; Lockwood Greene built a similar 29 See appendix for information from textile industry directories. Sanborn Map Company, LaGrange, Georgia, (New York: Sanborn Map Company, 30 "The LaGrange Mill," LaGrange Reporter (25 April 1. ""Resumed Operation," LaGrange Reporter (27 October 1; Sanborn Map Company, LaGrange, Georgia, (New York: Sanborn Map Company, C 32M Double Capacity At Once," LaGrange Reporter (3 February 1.

33 "Trust in LaGrange," LaGrange Reporter (17 May 1. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo.GA-98 (Page 58) structure for its International Cotton Mills Hogansville Plant around the same time.34 The corporate name International Cotton Mills was changed to New England Southern Mills in the early a name change that reflected the Southern focus of Lockwood Greene's manufacturing subsidary. Lockwood Greene continued to operate the mill until During that year, both the LaGrange and Hogansville Plants were acquired by the Calumet Division of Callaway Mills, adding two more facilities to the extensive Callaway holdings based in Southwest LaGrange.33 Subsequently, the old LaGrange Mill village has been known locally as Calumet.

In a corporate restructuring brought all of these mills under the Callaway Mills name, now under the leadership of sons Cason Callaway and Fuller Callaway Callaway Mills was sold to Deering Milliken, Inc., of North Carolina in Milliken operated the original LaGrange Mill until A few years after closing, the mill was torn down and St. Peters Catholic Church was built on the site. The community building has been demolished as well, but many of the houses, including the original grouping, remain relatively intact. Like many historic Southern textile mills, the LaGrange/Calumet Mill was considered obsolete nearly one hundred years after it was built.

The mill was closed and demolished as the struggling Southern textile industry increasingly favored modern structures over renovation of the existing mills. Unity Mill: First Callaway Mill in Southwest LaGrange When LaGrange Mill was expanding at the turn-of-the-century, the first Callaway group mill was being built southwest of LaGrange. By the the Callaway Mills operated a series of six mills at four different sites in Southwest LaGrange, turning farmland on the edge of the city into an extensive industrial neighborhood annexed by LaGrange. Fuller E. Callaway was a LaGrange native who built a thriving mercantile business through innovative marketing schemes. Callaway* s first foray into the textile manufacturing business was as an investor and later manager of Dixie Cotton Mill.

His efforts during a bleak early period of Dixie's operation were credited with saving the mill. Callaway left the textile industry for several years, but returned with the construction of Unity Mill in Callaway was encouraged to reenter the textile industry by the J. H. Lane Co. of New York, formerly the agents for Dixie Cotton Mill. When Dixie was acquired by Wellington Sears and their agents replaced J. H. Lane, the New York company approached Callaway with an offer to invest in a new textile mill in LaGrange. Callaway pledged and agreed to manage the new mill.

The charter was granted on May 8, and on July 4, the company directors decided to build on a 96-acre tract southwest of town with good railroad access and an adequate 34 For a useful collection of photographs of the International Cotton Mills including the mills and villages in LaGrange and Hogansville, see "Souvenir from the International Cotton Mills" (11 October Troup County Archives, LaGrange, Georgia. 25 LaGrange Graphic (21 September 1. 36 [plant closes] LaGrange Daily News (15 January 1. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo. GA-98 (Page 59) water supply for the steam boiler. " In October the construction contract was given to Pike Brothers Lumber Co. of LaGrange.38 In July the LaGrange Reporter informed its readers that machinery installation was starting at the new mill.

Unity Mill would produce mainly heavy duck fabric, in an effort to compete with the "duck trust" created by tie acquisitions of U.S. Cotton Duck Corporation, including the local LaGrange Mill. Apparently the mill building was complete in July but the surrounding infrastructure was still being created. A dam and reservoir were "nearly completed" to supply clean water and the railroad was doing "considerable work there in arranging the side tracks, erecting coal chutes, etc."39 Foundations for the worker's cottages were in place and work on a four-room office building, warehouse and storage buildings was about to begin. In December Unity Mill was in operation and made its first product shipment. The local press praised the new mill: "Unity Mills is modern and up to date in every respect.

The machinery is all up to the latest and best made, the building was erected on the most approved plans as to stability, sanitary arrangement and light, its location is most excellent, and the most carping critic would have a hard time in finding a reasonable suggestion for its improvement."40 It was designed by A. Francis Walker, an Atlanta-based architect originally from Framingham, Massachusetts. Walker was approximately 38-years-old when he designed Unity.41 The new Unity Mill represented progressive mill architecture at the turn of the century.42 Unity was a two- story structure utilizing a brick and heavy timber slow-burning structural system.

Unity Mill also was typical of turn-of-the-century mill architecture with its large windows and low, wide form compared to mills of the and early The very low pitched roof was nearly flat and had a monitor along the center third of the roof to allow light into the second floor. 37 Donna Jean Whitley, Fuller E. Callaway and Textile Mill Development in LaGrange, (New York: Garland Publishing, 93. 38 "Unity Contract Lett [sic.]," LaGrange Reporter (5 October 4. 39 "Down At Unity: Fine Progress Being Made on the New Mill," LaGrange Reporter (26 July 1. 40 "Unity Mills: Now Running, First Shipment This Week," LaGrange Reporter (20 December 1. "Information regarding A. Francis Walker courtesy of Ken Thomas at the Historic Preservation Division, Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

From Walker was c part of the architectural firm of Walker and Chase. 42 "Callaway*s Unity Plant is 50 Years Old Today," (9 May 1 (clipping in "Callaway Mills" vertical file, Troup County Archives). TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo. GA-98 (Page 60) The most distinctive and decorative feature of Unity Milt's exterior was the Romanesque Revival water tank tower at the center of the main elevation. The tower had a hipped roof supported by decorative brackets.

A "bulls eye" design of concentric circles was between each roof bracket and a corbeled blind arcade at the top of the tower added a bit of texture and variety to the common Romanesque Revival factory tower form.43 The interior of Unity Cotton Mill housed ring spindles, 88 broad looms, and 30 narrow looms operated by approximately 375 employees.44 Five boilers located in an ell extending from the northeast elevation of the mill provided steam power for the adjacent engine house and rope drive. The boilers were purchased from R. D. Cole Manufacturing Co. of Newnan, Georgia.45 The rope way connecting the rope drive with the shafting and belting to operate the production machinery was a narrow space near the east end of the mill.

The remaining space on the east end of the mill was used as the picker house and picker house machine shop. Raw cotton first entered the mill here from the opener room in the warehouse structure. Cleaning and preparing for carding, the first step in producing thread, could be a fire hazard due to flammable debris in the cotton. Separating the picker house area from the rest of the mill with the ropeway was a common strategy, as also seen at LaGrange Mills. A firewall extending from both sides of the rope way on the roof of the mill was an additional effort to separate the picker house area from the rest of the mill. Cotton moved from the picker house to the second floor of the mill for carding, roving, spooling and spinning.

Then beaming, twisting, reeling, and spinning took place on the first floor, according to the Sanborn Map for January Perhaps the listing of spinning again on the first floor was an error, given the fact that no area was designated for weaving. Later diagrams show a weave shed area on the west end of the first floor. In February the interior arrangement of Unity Mill was the same except for the addition of a one-story cloth room on the west end of the structure.46 Perhaps the most important element of Unity Cotton Mills' infrastructure was the neighborhood of worker housing constructed on grid plan streets to the west of the mill. The Unity Mill site in Southwest LaGrange was relatively level ground at the base of a series of rolling hills.

Ample building lots provided garden space for the workers to raise some of their own food. The LaGrange Reporter praised this arrangement: "The cottages near the mill, erected for the 43 See photographs of Unity Mill in Callaway Education Association Photos, Box 2, Troup County Archives. 44 Davison 's Textile Blue Book (New York: Davison Publishing Co., 45 "Cole Gets Contract," LaGrange Reporter (18 January 1. C 46 Sanborn Map Company, LaGrange, Georgia, (New York: Sanborn Map Company, Troup County Archives, Hutchinson-Traylor Insurance Agency Records, Series n, Box 2, Callaway Mills, Unity Plan [plan], (13 April TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo.

GA-98 (Page 61) operators, are of a much better class than is usually found, and plenty of land room is given each cottage, so that the occupants can have their gardens, chickens, and the usual home comforts. This fact will insure the best class of help for the mills, for contented and well pleased workers make the most efficient help."47 The housing for Unity Cotton Mill was wooden, single and two- family dwellings raised on brick piers in a variety of common vernacular roof forms and plans including side-gable double-pen houses, and pyramidal roof, hipped roof, and L-shaped plan houses.

In Unity Cotton Mill owned 81 operative cottages ranging in size from three to six rooms, which housed approximately village residents.48 The smallest dwellings of three- rooms were probably one-half of a duplex structure and were intended for the least skilled workers. Externally, however, the mix of duplexes and single-family houses would have somewhat disguised this hierarchy. Unity Mill village was within the city limits of LaGrange, but still far from any city services. As was typical of southern mill villages, the mill began to provide institutions and services for the mill workers, creating in this case a self-contained community within a larger jurisdiction.

By April mill management donated land and began to raise money to build a church - previously church services had been held in one of the cottages. Discussion of building a school building also began at this time.49 By the mill had turned over its school building for use by the city public school system.50 The later expansion of Southwest LaGrange with new mills would add more services to the area, creating a self-contained community of mill workers.

Elm City Cotton Mill The success of Unity Cotton Mill led to plans for another mill in southwest LaGrange in Fuller Callaway and many of the same investors were involved in the new mill, named Elm City Cotton Mill through a newspaper contest.51 In January a 340-acre tract southwest of the Unity Cotton Mill was assembled through purchase from several property owners. This site had the advantage of being bounded on one side by the Atlanta and West Point Railroad, and the Atlanta, Birmingham, and Atlantic Railroad on the other. It also had enough water to operate to horsepower in steam boilers. The LaGrange Reporter complimented Fuller Callaway's "foresightedness" and the vision of all the investors in creating a large tract "with the idea in view of selling off sites for other enterprises.

This means a great deal to our city, and 47 "Unity Mills," LaGrange Reporter (20 December 1. 48 "Unity Cotton Mills," LaGrange Reporter (15 September 3. 49* TNtew Church for Unity," LaGrange Reporter (25 April 1, MM | Unity Cotton Mills," LaGrange Reporter (15 September 3. 51 "Another Cotton Mill for 'Greater LaGrange,'" LaGrange Reporter (15 September 1; [Elm City name chosen] LaGrange Reporter (6 October 1. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo.GA-98 (Page 62) these public spirited citizens should received unstinted praise."52 The land surrounding Elm City Mill would become central to future expansion of the Callaway Mills in southwest LaGrange. A drawing of the main elevation of Elm City Cotton Mill was published in the LaGrange Reporter on May 11, A.

Francis Walker of Atlanta was the architect, and Roy Dallis of LaGrange the superintendent of construction, same as with Unity Cotton Mill five years previous.53 Also, Pike Brothers Construction Co. of LaGrange again received the building contract.54 The new mill building would be 90 feet longer than Unity and had the potential to contain spindles.

In September the LaGrange Reporter enthusiastically described the progress at the Elm City Mill site: A ride out to where the immense new cotton mill of LaGrange is being erected is somewhat inspiring to the average citizen, for where only a few months ago were fields of growing cotton and corn and hay is being transformed into a busy hive of industry, and soon the whir of machinery will be heard in the main building and the gently sloping hillsides will be dotted with neat cottages along well graded streets, furnishing homes, and employment for approximately fifteen hundred people.55 The mill walls were up to the second floor, the second floor beams being put in place, and the roof trusses being prepared. Also a large reservoir was being excavated and two earthen dams created.

The machinery had been purchased and was about to be shipped. Work on the Elm City Mill continued throughout the fall and winter. In February the mill building was complete, newly painted, and awaiting the machinery which was to arrive shortly. Many of the cottages were complete and the remaining ones under construction. The mill was similar in form to Unity Cotton Mill - a two-story, slow-burning construction mill with a low-pitched roof and central tower. A roof monitor along the center third of the mill allowed natural light into the middle of the second floor. The tower functioned as a water tower, but also featured Colonial Revival motifs such as a red tile hipped roof, stone belt courses contrasting with the brick walls, and an open round arch arcade at the top.

A brick office building at the front of the mill echoed the decorative motifs of the tower with a red tile hipped roof, and a portico with three round arch openings. When opened in Elm City Cotton Mill contained approximately ring spindles and 110 broad looms for the production of cotton duck. The interior arrangement reflected common factory design for steam-powered textile mills of the era, as did Unity Cotton Mill. The 52 "EIm City Mills Purchases Site," LaGrange Reporter (26 January 1. 53 "Great Elm City Cotton Mills," LaGrange Reporter (11 May 1. r ^LaGrange Reporter (18 May 8. 55 "The Elm City Mills," LaGrange Reporter (21 September 3. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo.

GA-98 (Page 63) south end of the main mill structure contained the picker room on the second floor and machine shop on the first floor. A narrow ropeway divided this section from the rest of the mill. A firewall extending along the edge of the ropeway on the roof was a fire safety measure similar to the design for Unity. The engine house and boiler house containing the four steam boilers to power the rope drive were located behind this end of the mill to the west, and arranged in an approximate U-shape. Cotton then moved through the main section of the mill north of the ropeway starting on the second floor with drawing and carding, stubbing, spinning, spooling, and twisting.

The newly produced thread then moved to the first floor for beaming, warping, weaving, spooling, and storage in the cloth room.56 Construction of Elm City Cotton Mill brought approximately new residents to southwest LaGrange because of the need for 350 new mill operatives. In May the LaGrange Reporter mentioned plans to build approximately neat and comfortable three to six room cottages, each fenced with room for a garden."57 By February a number of the worker cottages were completed. Elm City Cotton Mill operatives lived in many of the same vernacular house types as the Unity workers, blurring the distinction between the two adjacent mill villages. Services for this growing mill population were also a concern.

The plans for Elm City incorporated a large park and man-made lake near the mill for the operatives. The Episcopal Church started the Good Shepherd Mission in southwest LaGrange in to provide education, community activities, and health care for both Unity and Elm City workers, with support and encouragement from the mill management.5* Unity Spinning Mill In Callaway again made plans to expand, this time with profits from the original Unity Cotton Mill. The new mill was called Unity Mill No. 2, or later Unity Spinning Mill. Although the textile industry was slow at the time, the directors of Unity Mill planned to use between and to construct an new mill as close by as possible in southwest LaGrange.

The LaGrange Reporter attributed this move to optimism that the new mill would be ready just in time for the inevitable upsurge in business.59 With characteristic praise for industrial development, the local press remarked that: Knowing that the recent financial depression was only temporary and seeing the opportunity to turn a 'nimble penny/ the management of the above mills took advantage of the dull times and placed their orders for all the machinery and equipment needed by the new mills, and the difference in the prices they obtained 56 Sanborn Map Company, LaGrange, Georgia, (New York: Sanborn Map Company, 57 "Great Elm City Cotton Mills," LaGrange Reporter (1 May 1. c 58 "Mission House to Be Erected," LaGrange Reporter (25 October 1.

59M Another Mill for LaGrange," LaGrange Reporter (18 September 1. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo.GA-98 (Page 64) then and would have to pay now amounts to a splendid profit in itself. All the equipment is of the best, modern and up-to-date. In March the building contract for the new mill was given to John T. Grandy & Sons of Greenville, South Carolina. The design was by Park A. Dallis, a LaGrange native now practicing architecture in Atlanta. Dallis had an engineering degree from the University of Georgia and began his career working under J. E. Sirrine in Lockwood Greene's Greenville, South Carolina office. In Dallis worked as the on-site engineer for the construction of Lanett Cotton Mill in Lanett, Alabama.

When Sirrine started his own mill engineering firm in Dallis continued to work under him. In Dallis opened his own firm based in Atlanta.60 Unity Spinning Mill was a major early commission for Dallis. The 132 x 290 foot mill was to cost and be completed by August.61 It was located just south of Elm City Cotton Mill. Unity Spinning Mill was a two-story slow-burning construction mill with a very low pitched roof. Another steam powered mill, it was very similar in form to Unity and Elm City. Unity Spinning Mill, however, was a more utilitarian structure with no decorative tower. A long monitor stretched over nearly the entire main production area of the mill.

Another key difference at Unity Spinning Mill was the production of special yams, cable cords, hose-cords, and twine instead ofjust duck fabric.62 The emphasis on producing cords and yarns over fabrics led to a greater number and variety of spindles and no need for looms at this mill. Like the other mills, Unity Spinning's ropeway separated the smaller picker room area from the larger production area. Cotton entered the mill at the picker room on the second floor of the south end of the mill. A small square monitor illuminated and ventilated this section of the mill. The cotton was further refined through carding on the second floor of the larger northern section of the mill. Then spinning, twisting, and winding took place on the first floor.

Unity Spinning Mill had ring spindles and twist spindles. Twisting and reeling took place on the first floor of the southern end of the mill which was adjacent to a one-story shipping room with a monitor roof. The power for the rope drive was provided by the engine room and boiler house located in a U-shaped arrangement on the southwest end of the mill, an arrangement similar to Elm City.63 Approximately 300 new operatives and their families again expanded the population of southwest LaGrange when Unity Spinning Mill opened in The mills continued to build hipped, pyramidal, and gable roofed house forms on grid streets, in this instance expanding the 60 Copy of resume for Park A. Dallis, Sr. in files at Troup County Archives, LaGrange, Georgia.

61 "The Mill Contracts Let," LaGrange Reporter (12 March 1. 62 f~ American Textile Directory (New York: American Directory Co., Inc., "Sanborn Map Company, LaGrange, Georgia, (New York: Sanborn Map Company, TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo. GA-98 (Page 65) mill village neighborhood west of Unity Spinning. In less than ten years, the farmland of southwest LaGrange was being converted to a new industrial suburb. Both Elm City and Unity Spinning were located outside the city limits, further encouraging the self-contained nature of the mill worker community. Hillside Cotton Mill In Callaway again began planning for another major cotton mill.

Hillside Cotton Mill would provide the last major mill development in southwest LaGrange; future expansions were attached to the four existing mills. In October it was announced that a charter had been approved for a mill to called Hillside Cotton Mills. Previous LaGrange mills had been capitalized half that amount, indicating that Hillside would be a much larger structure. It was the sixth in the Callaway mills group, which included the three earlier LaGrange mills, Manchester Cotton Mills in Manchester, Georgia, and Milstead Manufacturing Co. near Conyers, Georgia.

The LaGrange Reporter noted "that it will pay handsome dividends seems a foregone conclusion in view of the marked success with which the same management have operated the other mills under their charge."64 In February a site just east of the Elm City Cotton Mill was being graded in preparation for construction of Hillside Cotton Mill. The Pike Brothers Construction Co. of LaGrange was building warehouses. Architect and mill engineer Park A.

Dallis of Atlanta, same designer as Unity Spinning Mill, was supposed to have the plans ready shortly so the contract for the main mill structure, thirteen sections of warehouse, and 100 operative cottages could be let.65 Thompson & Bros, of Birmingham and Charlotte got the construction contract for the main mill buildings, 17 sections of warehouse, and 122 cottages a month later. The railroads were already busy building side tracks to the new site, and the mill ponds were being excavated.66 In November the main mill structure, warehouses, and power plant were complete and the weave shed under construction.67 Hillside Cotton Mill was both a larger and more complex industrial site than the earlier Callaway Mills.

In Hillside housed approximately ring spindles, twist spindles, and 472 looms operated by 600 employees. Hillside produced a wider variety of products than the other Callaway mills including duck, drills, yarns, and twines of a variety of weights. Hillside also included a dye house for coloring finished fabrics; Lanett Cotton Mill in Chambers County, Alabama was the only other nearby mill with dying facilities. Like Dallis' design for Unity Spinning, Hillside was a utilitarian mill structure without a ""Charter for Mill," LaGrange Reporter (30 October 1. 65 "Steps Taken on New Mill," LaGrange Reporter (19 February 1. ( 66 "MilI Contract Let Tuesday," LaGrange Reporter (19 March 1. 67 "Making Better Men and Women," Cotton (November 7. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo.

GA-98 (Page 66) decorative tower or main public elevation. Instead the arrangement of Hillside emphasized the efficient grouping of a complex including a three-story main mill building, two attached one-story weave sheds, yarn storehouses, dye house, engine and boiler houses, and a U-shaped grouping of seventeen conventional warehouses with a three-story cloth warehouse in the center. The three- story main mill building with a roof monitor was placed near the center of this grouping. This section of Hillside was arranged in a manner similar to the other steam-powered, slow-burning construction mills in LaGrange. The south end of the main mill was a two-story picker room separated from the bulk of the mill by the ropeway for the power system.

The engine room and boiler house were located on the west side of the mill. The third floor housed carding, speeders, drawing, slubbers, and spinning. The second floor contained a similar set of production processes - carding, drawing, slubbers, and speeders - perhaps for a different type of yarn. The first floor housed winding and spinning.6* With the main mill at Hillside were two one-story weave sheds with similar brick construction and monitor roofs. Weave shed no. 1 was located parallel to the main mill to the east. The footprint of this long, low structure was larger than the main mill. Weave shed no. 2 was low and square in form with a partially excavated basement used as production space.69 Weave shed no.

2 was connected to the north end of the main mill and northwest corner of weave shed no. 1. It is not clear what power source was used to operate the looms in this part of the mill complex since the weave sheds did not appear to be attached to the steam-driven rope drive of the main mill. Possibly electric motor-driven machinery was used in this area of the Hillside complex; textile industry directories list both steam and electricity for power sources at Hillside (see appendix). The use of electric power and one-story weave sheds at Hillside indicated the evolution of factory design in the early twentieth century away from the restrictions of a rope and shafting driven steam system. Electric power offered much greater flexibility in the arrangement of the mill and machinery.

As the name implies, Hillside was built on a slightly higher elevation that the other southwest LaGrange mill neighborhoods. A mix of single and two-family houses were built on rectangular lots around the mill complex, further expanding the industrial suburb transformation of southwest LaGrange. Some houses built for Hillside Cotton Mill illustrated the shift to popular bungalow forms over Southern vernacular types. A number of front gable cottages with Craftsman detailing were built, such as those along Lincoln Street (see drawing and photograph of 606 Lincoln Street, HAER No. GA-112). Also, several Craftsman foursquares were built for supervisors on Forest Avenue.

'"Troup County Archives, Hutchinson-Traylor Insurance Agency Records, Series H, Box 2, Callaway Mills, Hillside Plant, (14 May G9 It is not clear whether both weave sheds were included in the original plan for Hillside, however both structures were in place by at the latest. See Sanborn Map Company, LaGrange, Georgia, (New York: Sanborn Map Company, TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo. GA-98 (Page 67) Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the worker housing for Hillside Cotton Mill was the dormitories built to attract new types of mill workers. The Martha Washington Inn and Benjamin Franklin Inn were similar two-story wooden structures with wide porches and hipped roofs. The traditional labor pattern for Southern cotton mills had been the family system.

The mill would provide a free-standing single family or duplex house for a family with several members working in the mill. Often smaller families were required to take in single workers as boarders. When Hillside was being built in the war in Europe caused a great demand for textiles in an already tight labor market.

The Martha Washington Inn was for young women workers drawn from the "mountain sections of Georgia, where...there was a plentiful supply of Anglo-Saxon people who have practically done nothing in an industrial way for several hundred years, and whom he [Callaway] felt could now be put to work to their advantage and the advantage of the community."70 The Benjamin Franklin Inn was intended to house "older men, those crippled or deformed in some way, but still able to perform certain tasks in a cotton mill, and those who through physical defects were not eligible for army or navy service."71 Like the International Cotton Mill in LaGrange, Hillside and the other Callaway mills continued to expand their employee welfare programs in the and Beyond just providing housing and schools, the mills of southwest LaGrange built a number of recreational and service facilities including a Y.M.C.A.

with a pool, gymnasium, and meeting rooms, parks, playgrounds, greenhouses, stores, a hospital, and a Boy Scout hut and camp.72 Fuller Callaway was very frank about the economic benefits of the paternalistic Southern cotton mill system. For example, Callaway told the Industrial Conference being held in Washington, DC in "we have swimming pools. We do not charge anything. We have tickets which entitle the holder to admission. Now, you take a 'doffer' boy, and if he does not behave we take his swimming ticket away from him, and it has more influence with him than the fear of God. We have a great many things like that, and it has all proved to be good for the people."73 Providing services for mill workers commonly was used as a means to inspire loyalty or discipline misbehavior.

Additions: Valway Rug Mill and Oakleaf Mill Although the main elements of Southwest LaGrange's textile industry were in place by the 70 "Meeting Shortage of Labor Through More Attractive Homes," Manufacturers Record (31 May 55. 71 Ibid. 72 For photographs of the amenities built for the Callaway mills, see "Callaway Group of Mills," in the "Health & Happiness" number of Southern Textile Bulletin (December A classic account of Callaway's management philosophy is Ida M. Tarbell, "Making American Citizens and Running Cotton Mills to Pay the Expenses," Red Cross Magazine ^ (August 70. 73 "Callaway Gives Secret of Industrial Peace," Southern Textile Bulletin (16 October 13. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo.

GA-98 (Page 68) late expansion did continue through the mainly with two new mills added to preexisting mill complexes. Fuller E. Callaway died in but his sons Cason Callaway and Fuller E. Callaway Jr. continued to manage the textile business. As president of the mills Cason Callaway worked to develop new product lines for the Callaway mills. Rug production began in one of the Hillside warehouses in as an experiment.74 Success led to the addition of power looms, and a new production area attached to the south end of the row of warehouses on the east side of the Hillside complex. The long, thin mill structure had large industrial windows mounted flush with the wall surface, giving it a very modern appearance.

Valway Rug Mill was officially incorporated on November 4, Its 200 employees produced cotton chenille rugs and towels using 123 Jacquard and other specialized looms. Electric power driven machinery eliminated the need for a rope way, engine house, and boiler house, and allowed the Valway Rug Mill to be an open and flexible production space.76 Oakleaf Mill also started as part of Hillside Cotton Mill for the production of wiping cloths, fabrics, and special yarns.

At Oakleaf there were twist spindles and 100 looms operated by 250 workers.77 Oakleaf Mill was chartered on April 16, and housed in a major addition attached to the north end of Unity Spinning Mill.78 Oakleaf Mill was a one-story brick and timber structure with a monitor roof, mirroring the Unity Spinning Mill in architectural form even though it was a lower and longer building. Oakleaf used electric power, eliminating the need for awkward and dangerous overhead shafting and belting. One-story structures were more convenient for the movement of materials through the production process and well suited for the flexible use of modern electric motors.

The Callaway Mills In all of the various mills operated by the Callaway group underwent a corporate restructuring to be reorganized officially as the Callaway Mills. The Callaway Mills included the southwest LaGrange mills - Unity Plant, Elm City Plant, Unity Spinning Plant, Hillside Plant, Oakleaf Plant, and Valway Rug Plant in addition to the Calumet Plant near downtown LaGrange (the former LaGrange Mills). Callaway Mills also owned and operated the Calumet Plant in Hogansville, Georgia, the Manchester Plant in Manchester, Georgia, and the Milstead Plant in 74 Louise Moon "LaGrange Industries: Valway Mills," LaGrange Reporter (2 July 1.

75 Clifford Smith History ofTroup County, (Atlanta, Georgia: Foote & Davies, 16 Davison 's Textile Blue Book (New York: Davison Publishing Co., ni /~ Davison's Textile Blue Book (New York: Davison Publishing Co., 78 Like Unity Spinning Mill was originally called Unity No. 2, Oakleaf Mill was briefly called Unity No. 3.; Smith TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo. GA-98 (Page 69) Milstead, Georgia for a total of spindles.79 In all of the Callaway Mills were converted to electric power systems - by the advances in electrical technology were making it more economical than steam power. Callaway Mills continued until when Fuller E. Callaway Jr.

sold the company to Deering Milliken, Inc., of North Carolina Milliken & Co., now headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina, continues to operate all of the former Callaway Mills in southwest LaGrange. The Unity Plant has been renamed Kex, and the original Unity Spinning/Oakleaf complex is now the Unity Plant. Additions and alterations have changed each of the mills, but many aspects of their original designs remain. The mill houses were sold to the workers in and this extensive neighborhood of worker housing through southwest LaGrange is still remarkably intact. Textile manufacturing continues to be an important part of LaGrange's diversified economy.

The distinctive southern mill village landscape created by the local textile mills in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries remains as powerful evidence of this period of growth in LaGrange, even as the unique social life of the mill village has disappeared. 79 c 80 Smith, "Hope to Advance Callaway Growth Here, Milliken Says," LaGrange Daily News (30 March 1. TEXTILE INDUSTRY IN LaGRANGE, GEORGIA HAERNo.GA-98 (Page 70) Selected Bibliography Andrews, Mildred Gwin. The Men & the Mills: A History of the Southern Textile Industry. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, Atkinson, Edward. "Slow-Burning Construction." Century Magazine (February Bahr, Betsy W.

"New England Mill Engineering: Rationalization and Reform in Textile Mill Design, Dissertation, University of Delaware, Bennett, Frank P. How to Build, Equip and Operate a Cotton Mill in the United States. Boston: Frank P. Bennett Co., Biggs, Lindy. The Rational Factory: Architecture, Technology, and Work in America's Age of Mass Production. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, Blythe, Robert W. et. al. "Textile Mills and Villages," in Cotton Mills, Planned Communities, and the New Deal: Vernacular Architecture and Landscapes of the New South. Debbie Curtis Toole, ed., Athens, GA: Vernacular GeorgiA, "Callaway Gives Secret of Industrial Peace." Southern Textile Bulletin (16 October 13- 14, 22. "Callaway Group of Mills." Southern Textile Bulletin (December Carlton, David L.

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