Roswell’s Big Wheel…Water that Powered Roswell…And Empowered Georgia

THEROSWELLMILLS

The Heritage Center at Roswell Visitors Bureau617 Atlanta StreetRoswell, Georgia 30075800-776-7935; 770-640-3253

www.visitroswellga.com

Roswell Historical Society

The textile industry takes root In the late 1700 and early 1800s Great Britain was the center for the textile industry. So

serious was this country about protecting its interests, laws were created to prevent those

knowledgeable about the technology from leaving the country.Meanwhile, from 1790 to 1810, a fledgling cotton industry was beginning to take hold in

Rhode Island, but it was mostly dependent on southern plantation cotton. By 1815, 167 cotton

mills dotted the Rhode Island landscape.

Roswell Historical Society

Note: To lessen confusion as you read this information, be aware that although Roswell and its historic mill sites are located in Fulton County, in the 1800s they were part of Cobb County

At that time, Boston was a financial center, but when the Embargo of 1808 and the War of

1812 bottled up Boston Harbor, wealthy shipping leaders, out of desperation, decided to invest

in new textile factories. The Colonies had to become more self-sufficient. By 1846 Lowell, Mas-

sachusetts, had nine large mills, machine shops, miles of canals and thousands of people em-

ployed in the mills.

Textile mills were flourishing in another part of the New World as well, beginning in 1830

through 1882, because of a peculiar geological boundary that would have an impact on early

transportation and, consequently, on commerce. Georgia’s fall line, where land drops from the

hills of the Piedmont region to the upper Coastal Plain lands, was perfect for such an industry.

In the 1837 publication, A Gazetteer of the State of Georgia, graphically (and charmingly)

subtitled “Embracing a Particular Description of the Counties, Towns, Villages, Rivers, &c., and

Whatsoever is Usual in Geographies, and Minute Statistical Works, Together with a New Map of

the State,” author Adiel Sherwood wrote this about the proliferation of factories in relation to

Georgia’s fall line:

Factories. – Factories to make cotton and woolen cloths have been established in

two or three counties; but owing to the high price of labor, they have been but short-

lived. Since the late tariff, however, they have begun to start up in several places.

Manufactures. – Leather, shoes, hats, carriages, saddles, cabinet work, cotton and

woolen cloths, etc., are manufactured throughout the State. But little is manufactured

in the southern section even for the blacks; but homespun in the upper sections is

worn by the most wealthy and respectable inhabitants. Much, however, is imported

for every part of the state.

As factories sprang up in the region, another significant event took place. Roswell King of

Darien, Georgia decided to take an exploratory trip to Auraria to investigate the gold discoveries.

As he traveled on horseback he happened upon Vickery’s Creek. With the waters rushing before

him, he envisioned a mill with a community close by. Later, he would obtain the land from

someone who received it in a land lottery, King began construction of the mill and offered home

sites to friends and business associates from the coast of Georgia.

By 1839 he and his son, Barrington, and their slaves had settled in the area north of the

Chattahoochee River. In 1839, the Roswell Manufacturing Company would incorporate and have approximately 150 operatives working at the mill.

Unfortunately, King’s wife, Catherine, never saw her family’s enterprise, nor the town that

would be named for her husband. She died while still living in Darien. In 1844, Roswell King

died and the couple’s son, Barrington King, worked to carry on his father’s dream. He served as

president of the Roswell Manufacturing Company for twenty-seven years, from its incorporation in 1839 until his death in 1866.

According to the Roswell Historical Society’s book, Roswell: A Pictorial History, King’s cotton

mill “was built right below the dam, and early surveys show it to be a long and narrow building connected to the machine shop by a wooden raceway.” It is thought that much of the machinery

for the mill came by oxcart from Augusta and that some of the components, including the original

water wheels, may have been produced on site.

Note: To lessen confusion as you read this information, be aware that although Roswell and its historic mill sites are located in Fulton County, in the 1800s they were part of Cobb County

Original Sawmill(in 1843 Wool Factory)

Vickery’s Creek

Lower Dam

1839 Mill Raceway

1839 Cotton Mill

1853 Cotton Mill

The New England of the SouthBy 1840 Georgia ranked third in the nation in production of cotton cloth, just behind

Massachusetts and New Hampshire, which were ranked first and second respectively. Nineteen

mills were operating, with one of the largest the Roswell Manufacturing Company. Also

operating in Roswell, along with a saw mill, grist mills and a few small textile mills, was one

of the earliest and most successful mills: The Lebanon Mill. This grist mill would later be

acquired by the Roswell Manufacturing company.

According to Statistics of the State of Georgia, compiled by Rev. George White in 1849, by

the mid-1840s, Roswell Factory at Vickery’s creek had capital of $80,000. Additionally, it had

these resources:

Spindles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,500

Looms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Operatives (nearly all white) . . . . . 150

Bales of cotton per day . . . . . . . . . . 5

Yards of shirting made per day . . . 1,100

Osnaburgs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,500

Bundles of yarn per week . . . . . . . . 1,200

Hours of work per day . . . . . . . . . . 11

The success of the Roswell Manufacturing Company is documented in The History of

Chicago Board of Trade Battery by John A. Nourse from records at the Chicago Historical

Society, referencing July 7, 1864, during the Civil War and the burning of the Roswell Mills:

“These mills and the whole country around here is owned by King & Co. they own

all the stores, provisions, etc.; they allow no liquor sold in the town, and in truth run

everything to suit themselves – Had their own paper currency, which circulated all

through this country as better than confederate scrip…”

Wood Engraving - Roswell Historical Society

Michael Hitt

On April 13, 1906, Virginia Wing Powers recalled another successful mill, the Laurel

Woolen Mill, which, like other area mills experienced strong growth during the last decades

of the nineteenth century: “…carriages passed near the Laurel Woolen Mill, remembered

for having made woolen material for Confederate uniforms,” she wrote. “This mill was later

flooded and abandoned when Bull Sluice Dam was constructed for Atlanta’s first hydro-

electric power plant.”

The mills produced tenting, flannels and a cloth of wool and cotton called “Roswell Gray.”

Yarn, rope and cotton and wool cloth were also produced.

In Rev. George White’s 1854 Historical Collections of Georgia, the author noted that the

“Roswell Manufacturing Company is situated at Roswell, containing 2 cotton mills, 1 wool

factory and 1 flouring mill; Capital: $220,000.” He further observed:

The old factory is built of brick; 3 stories, with basement, 88 feet by 48; 2208 fly

spindles, turning off 1,000 pounds of yarn per day. The building is in the process

of enlargement and it is expected that at an early period there will be added 8

frames, 1,152 spindles, which will make 650 pounds No. 16 yarn; also machinery

for cotton rope; 400 lbs. per day.

The new factory is built of brick, with rock foundation; 140 ft. by 53; 4 stories,

overshot iron wheel, 16 feet face, 20 feet diameter…

According to The Marietta and Acworth City Directory for the years, 1883 and 1884:

“The cotton is nearly all obtained in this section, hauled in on wagons by the farmers.”

By 1850 Georgia had 38 textile mills and was called “The New England of the South;”

by 1855 Roswell Manufacturing Company would double its work force.

Timeline: Roswell Cotton Mills1839 Mill #1 opens (Roswell Manufacturing Company)

1853 Mill #2 and a second dam opens (Roswell Manufacturing Company)

1864 Both mills are burned during the Civil War; after the War, the 1853 mill is rebuilt.

1873 Willeo Cotton Mill is established. According to the 1880 census, it had a fall of 30

feet and operated 1,200 spindles. (1896 records still list this mill.)

1882 Roswell Manufacturing Company builds another mill; the 1853 mill is now called

Mill #1 and the 1882 Mill is Mill #2.

1894 Oxbow Falls Manufacturing Company (The Roswell Company) opens a cotton mill. It is later called The Pants Factory.

1920-23 The Roswell Manufacturing Company is purchased and its name is changed to

Roswell Mills.

1926 Lightning destroys the 1853 mill on June 12 and it is not rebuilt. The 1882 mill is

expanded and operates until 1975. It is known simply as “the Mill.”1941 The Pants Factory is destroyed by fire but a new building is constructed in 1942.

(Cost: $75,047)

1947 Southern Mills purchases Roswell Mills and operates until 1975.1985 Mimms Enterprises purchases the 1882 mill.

Timeline: Roswell Woolen Mills1857 Ivy Mills is established by James R. King and Thomas E. King. Ivy Mills is not part of

Roswell Manufacturing Company.

1864 Ivy Mills is destroyed during the Civil War; after the war, another mill is built next to

the Ivy Mill site. This would later be called Laurel Mill.

1871 Ivy Mills is purchased by Empire Mills.

1873 Laurel Mills Manufacturing Company is incorporated.

1877 Laurel Mills has purchased Empire Mills.

1904 Morgan Falls Dam was completed by the Georgia Power Company. Following

completion, Laurel Mills experiences ongoing flooding; it is eventually abandoned

and, in 1916, the machinery is sold.

Weather: a persistent enemyFor the mills in Roswell, as with other mills in Georgia, drought was a constant threat. Low

water resulted in less power which resulted in less production, meaning mill management could

not guarantee fulfillment of contracts. Mill workers were only paid for the hours they worked.

If work wasn’t available, they were forced to move on and find other jobs. When water power

again became sufficient to run the mills, the workforce would have to be rebuilt, causing other

challenges for mill managers and owners.

According to the Roswell Manufacturing Company’s minutes from October, 1853, the area had

“suffered much detention from low water the drought during summer & fall, more severe than

for the last 17 years…”

On November 1, 1876, the minutes show this account: “[W]e have suffered since August 15th

with a most serious drought, which as caused continued interruptions to the regular running of

the mill.”The minutes of October 29, 1879, illustrate the ongoing challenges weather posed: “Loss of

time in 1878 and 1879 due to excessive droughts.”

April 28, 1885: “The old wheel, on account of its wear and tear, wastes water largely. When water is plentiful, this makes very little difference, but should we want to use it in a dry time, the

trouble and loss would be felt.”

April 26, 1897: “…I consider the want of power the most urgent…”

Drought was not the only enemy; flooding could cause its own devastation, delaying

production and destroying technology and materials.

Overshot WheelVickery Falls

Capturing the Energy of Moving Water:Water was the source of energy that first powered Georgia mills and empowered the State

of Georgia. South of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Piedmont topography drops from 1,600 to

600 feet above sea level. This slope played a major role in Georgia’s productive milling indus-

try. Many narrow stream and river valleys descend rapidly down the Piedmont across a granite

base exposed by numerous shoals and falls. Water confined by these valleys turned the wheels

of milling across Georgia. In the early days water wheels captured the flow (weight of the wa-

ter) and force (height of the water’s drop) of many streams and rivers, producing the energy

that powered Georgia industry for many years.

Water wheels vary in form. Selecting which form of wheel might work most efficiently

depended on the landscape where the mill was to operate. A hilly site with a fast flowing

stream required a form of wheel different from a form that efficiently worked at a flat site

with a slow flowing stream. Some of the forms used in Georgia are described below.

The Tub Wheel is an early form of energy capture. A horizontal wheel with a set of

attached blades was mounted in a tub. The tub increased the water’s flow by containing it.

Guided through a chute or sluice, water struck the blades forcing the wheel to turn a vertical

shaft. This turning shaft supplied power directly to the milling process without any form of

gearing. Tubs were seldom more than six feet in diameter.

The Overshot Wheel was used in hilly topography that had narrow valleys, fast flowing

streams, and a high fall of water. This vertical wheel was turned by the weight of the water

(62.47 lb. /cubic ft.) falling into troughs - commonly called “buckets” - near the highest point

of its rotation. At the lowest point the buckets spilled the water into a tailrace for return to

the stream. Overshot wheels turned in the same direction as the flow of the supplying stream.

These factors made this wheel form very efficient with an exception. During floods rising water

could back up the tailrace causing the wheel to turn slower or stop. According to the Roswell Manufacturing Company’s records, the efficient overshot wheel was used in their mills to cap-

ture the energy of Vickery Creek.

The Mid-shot, or Breast Wheel was a blend of the less efficient undershot wheel and the more efficient overshot wheel. From the headrace water filled the wheel’s buckets at a point

level with its axle (middle or breast). The buckets were deep to catch more water (weight) sup-

plied by a lower fall of water (force). This wheel form revolved in the opposite direction of the

stream source. At the lowest point of rotation the buckets dumped the water into the tailrace

to return to the stream. Flood waters backing up the tailrace, i.e., backwater, did not lessen the wheel’s efficiency. In America this wheel proved to be very popular during the early 1800s.

Morgan Falls Dam

Georgia Power Company

Morgan Falls Hydroelectric Plant

Georgia Power Company

The Undershot Wheel is one of the older forms. A low fall of water struck flat boards

suspended between the wheel’s vertical rims near the lowest point of rotation. Water flowed

under the wheel, turning it in the direction opposite of stream flow. This form and the mid-

shot wheel were commonly used in flat landscapes with low flowing streams and rivers.

In 1897, the Roswell Manufacturing Company would begin supplementing the water power

with wood-generated steam power and, by 1898, electricity would be used in one of its mills,

Mill #2, which had been converted to steam. The mills would generate their own electricity

and would eventually run lines to some of the mill village houses. In 1910, the mill would be-

come dependent upon electrical power.

The minutes of October 26, 1898, show the success of the conversion:

Steam plant at Mill No. 2 consist of 150 H.P. which cost $4,319.03. This steam

plant enables you to take contracts with a degree of certainty that you can run the

mill every day and night during the year, which is now being done. This places you

entirely independent of water power and with the assurance of the mill being run

all the time you can get and keep the very best families as operatives, which you

could not do were you dependent upon the uncertainty of water power through

the dry seasons.

Also reflected in the statements of those same minutes from October 26, 1898, is “that elec-

tric light placed at mill # 2; sprinklers put in Mill No. 2 and Mill No. 1 warehouse.”

Several years later, in the 1901 edition of Georgia Historical and Industrial by The De-

partment of Agriculture and published by The Franklin Printing and Publishing Co., a pas-

sage in reference to Cobb County reads:

In the Northeastern part of the county on a branch of the Southern Railway is the

manufacturing town of Roswell with a population of 1,329. The water powers of the Chat-

tahoochee are here utilized in two large cotton factories, one of which uses steam also.

The Laurel Mills Manufacturing Company operate a woolen factory, run by water, which

makes jeans, cassimeres [sic]and tweeds. Here is also a wagon and harness factory.

Oxbow Pants Factory – Roswell Historical Society

Roswell Mills and the Civil WarRoswell Gray would become a highly prized cloth for Confederate uniforms. The mill would

send the cloth to the Quarter Master in Atlanta and, if there was sufficient cloth, the Militia

would also have uniforms of this quality material. As the cloth became more and more scarce

during the War, however, it was reserved for officers’ uniforms only.

Pre-printed forms, from the Confederate Records of the Roswell Battalion, emphasize

the importance of the Roswell Mills: “…A large portion are composed of Detailed Men now

at work for confederate State Government under Maj. G. W. Cunningham, Q.M. of Atlanta at

Roswell Factories…”

On June 19, 1864, a letter appearing in The Southern Confederacy, written by a correspon-

dent from Roswell, reflects the optimism of the Roswell Manufacturing Company staying the

course during the War:

This factory is of immense value to our Government and is operating chiefly for its

benefit and the natural advantages surrounding will enable our forces to hold it against

overwhelming numbers, should the enemy attempt to raid upon the place. We have

sufficient artillery to command every approach, and the heights are well fortified.

The Nashville Times tells a far different story just one month later, in July, 1864:

A gentleman, a native of Massachusetts but for several years past engaged in man-

ufacturing cotton near Atlanta, passed through the city yesterday. He states that

General Sherman destroyed a very extensive cotton factory on the Chattahoochee, which

had been run for the Rebel Government since the beginning of the rebellion, and from

which they drew a large portion of their clothing. The loss is a very severe one to them.

By the time Sherman’s troops reached Georgia, the Union’s resolve to end the war and break

the back of the Confederacy was set. After all, Sherman had said, “I would make this war as

severe as possible, and show no symptoms of tiring till the South begs for mercy.”

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On July 5, 1864, Union troops arrived in Roswell. They came to secure the covered bridge,

which they discovered had been burned by retreating Confederate soldiers. Union soldiers were

surprised to find that the mills were still operational.

A mill employee hoisted a French flag above the woolen mill in order to claim neutrali-

ty; however, the letters “CSA” were found on the cloth being produced. Seized company records

showed that half the cloth was being sent to the Quarter Master in Atlanta.

Union General Kenner Garrard dispatched word to Sherman: “[O]ne woolen factory, capac-

ity 30,000 yards a month, and has furnished up to within a few weeks 15,000 yards per month

to the rebel Government. Capacity of cotton factory 216 looms, 191,086 yards per month and

51,666 pounds of thread, and 4229 pounds of cotton rope. This was worked exclusively for the

rebel Government.”

The neutrality claim was proven false and General Sherman

ordered the mills burned, including Ivy Mills and the Roswell

Manufacturing Company’s two cotton mills. Four hundred mill

workers, mostly women, were charged with treason and sent by

wagon to Marietta. There, they and operatives from Sweetwater

Manufacturing Company, were placed at the Georgia Military

Academy and on the 15th of July, were marched to the train sta-

tion and sent north, including to Indiana and Kentucky.

Sherman wrote: “I repeat my orders that you arrest all peo-

ple, male and female, connected with those factories, no matter

what the clamor, and let them foot it, under guard, to Marietta,

which I will send them by cars to the North…The poor women

will make a howl.”

In the New York Commercial Advertiser, dated September 9, 1864, the editor of the Louis-

ville Journal recalled visiting the prisoners in an article entitled, “Sherman’s Female Captives”:

As we ascended the steps, the first object that greeted our eyes was a child full of

robust health engaged at play in the hall. Passing the lower apartments, the doors

standing wide open, we found, on an average, three double beds in each room and

seated around and on the beds, engaged in sewing, and other occupations common

to ladies, were women - some with the bloom of eighteen years upon their cheeks and others advanced in years beyond the hey-day of life. . .Some moved about the

building in sprightly manner, others with their robes gathered negligently about

them, and with all the languor to be found in the invalid, or in the person prone to

yield to gloomy thoughts, and grow sad and morose.

Although the women mill workers were charged with treason, they were never tried for that

crime. Shipped north, imprisoned and ordered to declare allegiance, they were eventually re-leased—but without provisions or assistance to get back home.

Some of the women would make their way back to Roswell, but what happened to others re-

mains a mystery. We can only speculate. Because many of the women were young, they might

have stayed in Indiana, married and settled. Some may have found employment in Indiana

mills or other locations. If their fathers, husbands and brothers had been killed in the War, they may have had no reason to try to find their way back to Roswell.

Old Mill PartsRon Redner

Reconstruction and RecoveryAccording to Dress Her In White and Gold by Robert B. Wallace (originally published by

University of Michigan), 1870 to 1890 would be one of the strongest eras of economic regen-

eration in post-war history of Georgia: Manufacturing capital quadrupled, railroad track

mileage trebled and property rose from $215,000,000 to $820,000,000.

From 1880 to 1883, Georgia’s mills increased in number from 40 to 70. In 1881, the Interna-

tional Cotton Exposition was held in Atlanta, an event that would be credited for helping make

Georgia the leader in the manufacturing of cotton goods in the South.

According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, “[W]ith cotton mills multiplying in the state

(especially in west central Georgia), cotton again became the king of Georgia’s economy.” By

1882, over two thirds of Georgia was committed to farmland and over one third of its population

was engaged in making a living from the soil. Even the manufacturing boom of the period was

dominated by cotton, with over 60 percent of total manufacturing vested in cotton mills.The publication, Cobb The Banner County and Marietta The Gem City, Georgia, The Empire

State of the South 1911, writes a glowing review of early twentieth century life in Roswell:

“Off in the eastern corner of the County, thirteen miles east of Marietta, and on the county line, lies the town of Roswell, with its population of fifteen hundred

people… It is the seat of one of the oldest cotton manufacturing enterprises in the

State, and has also a woolen mill… It is a beautiful place of residence, as well as a prosperous community.”

On February 28, 1920, Textile World Journal reported the sale of the Roswell Manufacturing

Company: “…Control of the Roswell Manufacturing company has been purchased… the trans-action is understood to have involved $750,000.”

Oxbow Manufacturing Co. - Nancy Hancock/Joe McTyre

Then, on June 19, 1926, the same publication, datelined Roswell, Ga., reported:

Fire believed to have resulted from a lightning bolt, destroyed the five-story Mill

No. 1 of the Roswell Mills, Inc., late Saturday, June 12. A warehouse and the dye

house attached to Mill No. 1 was also destroyed, but Mill No. 2 was saved. The loss

estimated at $400,000 is fully covered by insurance.”

Mill LifeWhile the mills thrived and flourished, the mill workers were not so lucky. Paid in scrip, which

they redeemed at the company-owned store for their goods and supplies, the laborers were too

poor to own land and many lived in housing also owned by the company.

In the early days of textile mills, workers’ houses often were three room cottages or six-room

duplexes. As the industry grew stronger, some single-family four-room cottages cropped up.

A general rule used by some mills was that the house would provide for one worker for each

room: If a family occupied a three-room house, then that family should have three members

working at the mill.

Minutes from the Roswell Manufacturing Company document efforts to keep the houses sani-

tary and to make them a bit more comfortable:

The tenement houses have been whitewashed which preserves the weathered

boarding, acts as a disinfectant and adds to the external appearance of the buildings

very much, and we contemplate having most of the unceiled houses made comfortable

before very cold weather, using the ceiling taken from the new mill when the sprinklers

were put in.

Later, Roswell Manufacturing Company’s President’s Report states that “[s]ince the last report,

we have ceiled one room in thirteen of the tenant houses.”

Unskilled laborers almost always rented their homes from the company. Skilled workers and

overseers were sometimes able to purchase their homes from the Company. As mill owners and

managers struggled to keep a reliable work force, housing became an important incentive.

Entire families, including children, often labored in the mills, working long hours. In January,

1890, the State of Georgia found it necessary to regulate the hours of labor in all cotton or woolen

manufacturing establishments: Hours were not to exceed eleven hours per day or sixty-six hours

per week.

According to The Louisville Daily Journal in August of 1864, “Spinners made $27 per month, and paid $25 per month for board, leaving two dollars to purchase clothing, pay incidental ex-

penses, etc.”

Still, an April 26, 1899, President’s Report (Roswell Manufacturing Company) makes an un-

characteristically benevolent plea on behalf of mill employees—although an ulterior motive is

suggested:

In Mill No. 2 there should be put a system of humidifiers. This mill has so much of its side walls of glass that the thermometer often registers over 100 degrees, which makes

it very uncomfortable for the operatives and increases the waste very greatly…

The original Company Store, located at the bottom of the hill near the 1839 cotton mill, moved into larger quarters halfway up the hill in 1843 due to growth in sales. In circa 1854, a much

larger Company Store was built at the top of the hill across from the Town Square. Eventually it

would also have a department to sell coffins.

It was common for mill workers to move from one location to another as jobs fluctuated ac-

cording to the economy and the productivity of the mills. Often drought and other conditions be-

yond the control of mill management would result in the need to move on.

Harsh RealitiesAcross mill towns in the South, the mill workers were often referred to as “Lintheads,” be-

cause the lint from the mill often settled on workers’ clothes and hair. Wilt Browning, the au-

thor of Lintheads, writes that it “was never a term of endearment-but some people whose

lives were formed in the cotton mill villages of the South wore it as a badge of honor.”

For workers in the employ of a given mill, regardless of where it might be located, manage-

ment controlled everything, from the type and amount of food they had to eat to the clothes

they put on their backs.

In A Memory of the South, Catherine Elliott Server, in speaking of Roswell circa 1839, re-

called that “there was also a small factory, where they made a coarse cloth called “Osnaburg”

for the negroes on the creek, and a store and a few log houses for the factory people who were

mostly the poor whites, or crackers.”

Fannie Oslin Jackson (1835-1925), who spent her early years in Georgia and worked as a

Union Army nurse during the Civil War, wrote this indictment of mill life with the Roswell

Company during the summer of 1863 in On Both Sides of the Line:

Everything purchased there had to be paid for in meat, lard, butter, chickens,

eggs, flour, corn – anything to eat. These men knew that the women had scarcely

enough provisions to keep body and soul together; yet it was true that not a pound

of thread nor a yard of cloth would they let them have without receiving its

equivalent in farm products. Thus many had to go hungry to get cloth and thread

to clothe their families.”

Every morning they would sell something like five or six five-pound bunches of

thread for money. A great crowd gathered there, hundreds every morning, to get a

bunch out of the number sold. No one could ever forget those scenes. The pale-faced

women, half clad, haggard, careworn, woebegone, hungry, with such piteous appeals

for thread as though they were starving and it was bread for which they begged.

In speaking about the fire of 1926, former mill employee Mr. J.L. Butler, whose father also

worked at the Roswell Mills, recalled that “[a]ll the floors inside the mill area were covered

with oil and grease so the fire was very hot, causing some walls to fall. After the fire, the walls not down were pulled down to prevent them from falling on persons going through the site to

collect looms and other items not totally damaged.”

Butler also remembered the floor plan of the mill: The fourth floor was the spinning room and the cloth room was on the third. On the second floor was the slasher room. The first floor

contained the looms.

There was an enclosed walk-way from the picker building to the 4th floor of the cotton mill. Cotton bales would slide down a “V” shape ramp from the warehouse

Oxbow Parts Factory – Joe McTyre Collection/Elwyn Gaissert

to the Picker Building. Once the cotton was inside the Picker Building it was picked

apart, then the cotton was taken over to the cotton mill.

Nearby, the Machine Shop was a brick two-story building with its first floor used

for the machine shop and the second floor containing the carpenter shop. Butler

recalled that there “were no stairs from the first floor to the second floor. A person

walked into the second floor from ground level.”

For mill workers who were injured or sick and missed work, it usually meant they missed

getting paid. Card rooms were filled with dust, often settling in the lungs and causing cough-

ing. The weaving room in some southern mills was believed to be the perfect environment for

tuberculosis to spread. The equipment itself was dangerous and workers could easily lose a

hand, arm or leg if they were not careful. This was prior to current federal laws that protect

workers’ rights.

From documentation in Georgia laws and Roswell ordinances, it can be assumed that law-

makers as well as mill owners attempted to limit access to liquors of any type:

Georgia Law 1875 states the following:

That the recited act, approved on the 20th day of February, 1874, to prevent

the sale of spirituous liquors at Trion factory, be so amended and extended as

to include in its provisions the following other places and factories to wit: The

Roswell Manufacturing Company’s factory, at Roswell, The Empire Cotton Mills,

The Willeo Cotton Mills, all of Cobb county in said State; and the Laurel Hill

Manufacturing Company’s mills of Milton county; and also Bethel church, and

the Kaolin Pottery and Mills, at Depot Number One, called also Steeven’s [sic]

Mills, both in Baldwin county; and that no Ordinary or any other officer shall

grant or issue any license to retail spirituous liquors, or intoxicating liquors, of

any kind or name, within three miles by straight line of any of said places…

The May 11, 1877, Marietta Journal reports that “There are no bars in Roswell – a town

pump being the only public ‘drinking place’ visible.”

The Marietta and Acworth City Directory for the years 1883 and 1884 is unequivocal on

the liquor issue in Roswell, stating “By the terms of the charter liquor was forbidden to be

sold, consequently the town has always been noted for its good order and the general intelli-

gence and refinement of its citizens.”

Ivy/Laurel Woolen Mill – Roswell Historical Society

Special ThanksMichael Hitt, Historian and AuthorRoswell Historical Society/City of Roswell Research Library and Archives; Elaine DeNiro, ArchivistRoswell Historical Society – Sherron Lawson, AdministratorJohn R. “Chip” Morgan – ArchaeologistSpectrum 4/Dennis White – Exhibit Designer & BuilderStroud’s Printing & DesignConnie Huddleston – Interpreting Time’s Past, LLCNancy Hancock & Joe McTyreLaurie Rowe & Kathy Witt – Laurie Rowe CommunicationsHelen “Marty” GoldsmithZachary W. HendersonThe Late Elwyn Gaissert, Sr.Dotty Etris – Exhibit Coordinator

www.visitroswellga.com for additional information about Historic Roswell,

tourist attractions and lodging facilities.

Georgia Power Foundation, Inc.

Enterprise Mill1450 Green Street Augusta, GA (Augusta Canal National Heritage Interpretive Center) www.nps.gov

Historic Banning Mills205 Horseshoe Dam Road Whitesburg, GA 30185 www.historicbanningmills.com

Porterdale Mill Porterdale, GA www.porterdalemill.com

Scull Shoals Mill VillageGreensboro, GA www.scullshoals.org

Sweetwater Creek State Park(New Manchester Textile Mill Ruins) 1750 Mt. Vernon Road Lithia Springs, GA 30122 www.gastateparks.org

In Georgia today, you will find many reminders of our State’s early textile heritage. We invite you to explore Roswell’s Mill Village and visit our Southern Trilogy sites: Barrington Hall, Bulloch Hall and Smith Plantation Home to more fully understand the history and culture of the area.

Throughout Georgia you will find sites that will help you understand more about Georgia’s early mills and their fates. We hope you will take the opportunity to visit:

The Heritage Center exhibit is a project of Historic Roswell Convention & Visitors Bureau Roswell Folk & Heritage Bureau 617 Atlanta Street, Roswell GA 30075 800-776-7935; 770-640-3253 www.visitroswellga.comWe invite you to also visit the Roswell Historical Society/City of Roswell Research Library and Archives for additional research. 770-594-6405

Nancy DavisMargaret Calhoon