A Mill Village Story

A Mill Village Story is the record of one man’s upbringing in a place and time that is quickly vanishing. A quintessentially American small town, West Point, Georgia is a place defined by its local industry—a world-class textile mill run by the West Point Pepperell corporation—and adherence to traditional Southern values of congeniality, manners, and friendliness. Everyone author Gerald Andrews knew or even just rubbed shoulders with worked at the mill, and it was Andrews's experiences there that would take him from relative poverty to the corporate boardroom. A Mill Village Story is an account of Andrews's early years, his rapid rise to leadership in various textile firms, and the special character of the village that shaped him. How does a young man go from night watchman to corporate sales in a matter of years? A Mill Village Story offers some explanation. Creativity and kindness set him on the right path, those characteristics nurtured in him by family members and the mill community. Gerald Andrews also quickly gained a reputation as a problem-solver—even at the lowest position at the mill—and for recognizing the importance of every employee, no matter their rank. This compassion for his employees contributed to his success. In A Mill Village Story, a lifetime of wisdom comes to file, with Andrews peppering his tale with the homegrown philosophies he developed from the unique social relationships he enjoyed growing up. Add to the mix personal encounters with Southern characters like country psychic Mayhayley Lancaster and A Mill Village Story becomes a memorable time capsule that serves as a portrait of a uniquely American place.

The setting for Lucy's story is a village built near a textile mill for the mill workers and their families. Through the eyes of eleven-year-old Lucy, we see the village in the early 1900s

"It is difficult to imagine a locale more quintessentially American than a Southern mill town. Congeniality, manners, friendliness, and compassion abound; white clapboard houses with black asphalt roofs and neat yards wander down from textile mills and schools. A Mill Village Story is a first-person narrative reflecting the best years of the mill villages in the Chattahoochee River Valley: West Point, Lanett, and Valley. It is a view through the eyes and mind of Gerald Andrews, a hard-scrabble kid who was born at home in a two-room house in Fairfax at the end of the Great Depression and grew up in his grandmother's boarding house. Andrews's creativity and innovative mind aided him in adventures through school, college, relationships, mill work, management, and leadership positions. What comes through most clearly in these pages is his genuine love for the people and how the culture of this nearly lost place shaped him"--

In 1904, the building of a planned community began, and the Henry River Manufacturing Company started producing fine cotton yarns in 1905. In its time, Henry River Mill Village was a completely self-sustained town: it operated under its own currency, generated its own electricity, and churned its own moonshine. While the mill thrived during its operating years, the 12-hour shifts often proved backbreaking for workers. By the time the 12,000 spindles slowed to a halt in the late 1960s, many workers had hoboed out of town looking for higher wages. The mill itself burned down in 1977, but the two-story company store and many of the workers' houses remain, creating an eerie silhouette--and serving as inspiration to both artists and filmmakers.

This book documents the growth of industrial technology in these "little hamlets," covering the social, labor, economic, and technical aspects of this fascinating chapter in the development of American enterprise.

The textile era was born of a perfect storm. When North Georgia's red clay failed farmers and prices fell during Reconstruction, opportunities arose. Beginning in the 1880s, textile industries moved south. Mill owners enticed an entire workforce to leave their farms and move their families into modern mill villages, encased communities with stores, theaters, baseball teams, bands and schools. To some workers, mill village life was idyllic. They had work, recreation, education, shopping and a home with the modern conveniences of running water and electricity. Most importantly, they got a paycheck. But after the New Deal, workers started to see the raw deal they were getting from mill owners and rebelled. Strikes and economic changes began to erode the era of mill villages, and by the 1960s, mill village life was all but gone. Author Lisa Russell brings these once-vibrant communities back to life.

Southside relates the stories of the cotton mill workers and their families who lived and worked in Eufaula, Alabama, a small town on the Chattahoochee River, from the 1890s through 1945. The book also provides an in-depth historical examination of Eufaula's race relations, racial violence, and the impact of the Civil War and the Myth of the Lost Cause on the town's future evolution.

Glencoe was a former mill town fallen into disrepair but was declared a historic site and restored, sharing the history of southern textiles. The Glencoe Cotton Mill and its village have a story very similar to that of other 19th- and 20th-century mill communities across the South. The mill operated from 1880 until 1954, and its employees lived in mill houses and shopped at the company store. After it closed, the community faded into vacant houses, rutted streets, and weed-covered properties. Unlike other mills, however, Glencoe found a spark of new life. People interested in its history--headed by Graham resident Sarah Rhyne--joined together to see the property declared a national historic site. Work reclaimed the mill and preserved it for the future. Preservation North Carolina helped, as did a number of individuals from the area, and life returned. Many of the mill houses have been purchased and restored and are now home to a new generation of residents. The Textile Heritage Museum occupies the old office-store building and, with its displays, shows the history of Glencoe and southern textiles in general.