Critical to the success in the early 20th century southern textile industry were the mill villages. Like coal camps and mining towns that supported their respective industries, mill villages supported textile and cotton mills, and consisted of company-provided worker homes, schools, a church, and of course, the company stores. And like the coal camps, housing […]
Scotland’s Deanston Cotton Mill Tokens

Finished in 1785, the Deanston Cotton Mill in Pirthshire, Scotland was built alongside the River Teith to harness the river’s power. Before modern automation, child labor laws and safety regulations, in its early years very young children worked at the factory …
Florida’s Tallahassee Rail Road & Its Obsolete Scrip

Conceived and financed by cotton planters who needed a way to get their crop to textile mills in northern states, in 1834 the Tallahassee Rail Road was organized in the Territory of Florida. Being one of the first operational railroads in the United States, construction for its route began in the same year (more…)
Wilmington’s Champion Compress & Warehouse Co

On or about the year of 1879 the Champion Compress & Warehouse Company was incorporated in the city of Wilmington, North Carolina. An economic powerhouse, the company quickly attained a dominant role in the exportation of cotton crops grown and cultivated in the southern United States. (more…)
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