The Gastonia Gazette from Gastonia, North Carolina • Page 33

2.G—THE GASTONIA GAZiTTt. April 20, 1949 15,000 Work In Gaston Yarn Plants New Siding, Brick Veneer Walls, Fresh Paint Progress Painted New Face To Mill Village Based oti current estimates of the American Yarn Spinners Association, lne. Gaston County's spun sales yarn industry senls one cut of every live major sales yarn mills in Ihe Unil- ed States. These estimates exclude wool yarn mills and thread mills, and considers only those plants with more than 100 em- pjoyees. Shipments from (iaston Coiin- ty yarn plants exceed $300 million annually, out of the total 51..1 billion of spun sales shipped in the United States each year.

These shipments i re generated out of morn 50 yarn plants in the county, employing in the range o( 13,00 people. Tha payroll represented by yarn companies is estimated to be $65-70 million annually. In terms its total impact on Gastnn County, Ihe sales yarn industry can best be described as being the vital economic backbone of the, county. In terms of total manufacturing employment, almost two out of every live employees work in yarn mills. In terms of total county employment, both manufacturing and non-manufacturing, more than one out of every five employees work directly for sales yarn companies.

Tha lull impact goes much furth er, however. A recent report of the North Carolina Employment Security Commission indicates that for each 10 manufacturing jobs in the county, there are approximately seven jobs in the non-manufacturing categories such as construction, transportation, public utilities, finance, service, government, etc. In other words, the 15,000 people employed in yarn mills create the economic demand for approximately another 10,000 jobs in non-manufacturing areas. The average person driving through the county can be lulled into the false impression that portions of the yarn industry have not kept itself modern and up-to-date. Many of the buildings are old in terras of years, but they house one of the most modern, efficient segments of textiles.

Due to rapidly changing machinery and equipment and technology, the industry has been able to expand ils productive capacity without having to build many new plants. The founders of the industry built 'well when (hey constructed the mills in Gaston County, and these same plants today have been modified to support new high-speed equipment, air conditioning, and the other hallmarks o( an un-to-date industry. Literally millions of dollars arc spont each year in planls throughout the county to replace and modernize machinery without its ever being apparent to the person passing by the planls themselves. There are a number of plants in the county that have replaced every piece of production equipment in the plant within the pas! five years without significantly altering the outside physical appearance Ihe building itself. The industry, as a whole, has averaged spending in the range of $1.000 per year per employee to keep itself modern and efficient.

The sales yarn industry provides Gastnn County a substantial and solid base on which to build its economy for the future. Provided adequate safeguards from excessive imports are executed by our own government, the industry has every reason to be optimistic about its future. With its close ties to weaving and to the booming knitting industry, the next decade should witness ex panded job opportunities, higher skill requirements and continuation of wage improvement trends. The industry is capable and willing to respond to these exciting challenges. Who has a stake in the yarn industry in Gaston County? Every resident of the.county does.

Every merchant, barber, doctor, government employee, lawyer, bus driver, can pretty safely state that more than half of the dollars flowing into his particular area of the county coin- in erce would not be here if the sales yarn industry were not in Gaston County. Both the county and industry can hopefully look forward to many more years of being partners in progress. Henry Koixl didn't rcaliw the Implications of that belchinf, wheezing, rant ration he. invented and called an automobile. Thai vehicle is responsible for the dcm'sr of a once basic clement ol Gaslon County life: Ihe mill village.

The early period the industry wrs horse and buggy era. Living close by Ihe pian! was for both the mill owner ami Ihe worker. The refon-, ni i 11s re crm- striked ami villages scattered, across the suiToinuiing acreage. Shift dinn.se saw workers ambling out Ihu of plant for a short, relaxing walk home. Till-: mutsKl.KSS carriage the imputation niobilo Mobility brought a new fmiml freedorn.

could seek C'HV. plo.yn.icnl elsewhere. In the new aue. 25 miles took only minuics of traveling lime, Aiut progress painted a new face to iho Mill companies, who for somo lime had deplored "being in tho real estate business," sold the houses to employees, moslly at very cheap prices. First Mills Were Built On South Fork River The hi5tory of Gaston County industry is a thread from the thousands oE spindles that began spinning cotton before tile county was bora.

And before Ihe spindles wore (he fields of cotton that brought them to the South Fork and Catawba River country. In a liny cemetery tucked under spreading oak trees and tall pines north of Dallas, inscriptions on vine covered stones, broken and half-buried, tell the stiiry of that beginning. "The Memory of the Just Is Sacred." These words are caned in granite on the tombstone nf Andrew Hoyl who died in IS57 at the age of 86 years. THE MEMORY of the just may be sacred, but here, that memory has been sadly neglected. Located in a pasture on the Walter Stroupe property, Ihe small plot is surrounded by a tumbledown rock wall with a rusty iron gate.

The Stroupe farmlands are part of the land that was once a huge plantation called "Hoylesville." Just over the hill is another burying ground filled with the unmarked graves of the Hoyle slaves. These graves call up visions of a bygone era the days of the southern plantations vast cottonfields slaves singing around a bonfire at night beautiful girls in long dresses dancing. The dates on the tombstones suggest sorrow and' heartache. Andrew Iloyt's son, Eii, died when he was 43. His wife, Cyn- Ihia Sarah, died at the age of 25, a few months after giving birth to a baby boy, David Ramsour, who lived only eight days.

There were im modem hospitals, skilled surgeons, or miracle drugs to save the lives of tiny anil Andrew Hoyl was the grandson of Pieler Hoyl, a German, who with his wife and seven children came here from Pennsylvania and settled on the banks of the South Fork River in 1744. He vas one of Ihe first set- tiers 'o establish a homestead on the land that is nnw Gastrm County. Over Ihe years, the name Hey I became Hnyl, thon Hoyle. When Andrew Hoyl died, he left an estate of $200,000, at (hat lime, considered a great fortune, probably Ihe jrcateit in the county. The rich cotton fields in their abundance brought cotton mills to spin tho raw producl.

THE TEXTILE industry beginning was woven from Ilia produced In Ihree mills established during Ihe birth of UM county. WoodUwn mil! was probably the first and it began operation in The buildings housing the factory were constructed from wood and brick, the wood cot from Gaston County farmlands; The success of these mills brought others to the fertile area of the South Fork River and the growth of the textile industry brought job opportuni-. ties. Prosperous farmers invested in the mills and tha less prosperous went to work in thfim. At the end nf the civil war, returning confederate soldiers found desolate farmlands and hungry families.

Many of them did not return to the plow, but sought employment in the still- thriving mills. In the early 1870s, the railroads came to Gaston County, bringing even more job opportunities, and more men the soil and went to work tics and tracks. Tn 1801. there were IS Icxtite factories operating in the county, ail prospering and all but one owned by Gaston Counly men. TvrTU THE construction a steam plant by Duke Power Co.

on the Catawba River near Mt. Holly in 1910, the factories continued to increase in number. The mill owners made their homes with the workers in llw industrial viltagcs that sprang up around the mills. Many ol the factories encouraged the employees to invest in the mills and sold slock shares on weekly installments taken from the worker's wages, must ul the town residents were factory workers and as more factories were established, new workers came from surrounding counties. And businessmen from the North began to locale factories in Ihe thriving county.

In 1911, (he county scat ol CJaslon Counly was moved lo Gaslonia and during this year the county began to be called the "Textile Center of the South." The name was weU-deserved and when the county celebrated its 100th birthday in ms, it boasted 140 textile mills. The textile mills still thrive hti'e but they are no longer king. Many textile-related manufacturing mn- chincry and parts, knitting lac- lories, garment plants, paper and plastic manufacturers are located in Ihe county, shipping their products lo all parts of the world. The industry ilsell has diversified with new fabrics and synthelics so that many textile plants in Ihe area have never housed a collon Ihread. This Ihread that wove the history of Gaston County re- miins unbroken, but it is no longer Ihe thread of lile to tho county's industry.

MILL HOUSES Mill A'illage A Thing Of The Past i Faced with tho pride of homo ownership, the now owners went lo work paint ing-up, fixing-up, and generally removing the sameness from their homes, Hie row on row of clapboard homes took on new asbestos siding, brick veneer exterior walls, snet vari-eoloret! wood Inm-anythtng to remove tlia "mill" image and give an air of, individuality. Apparently, DO one was liajv pier than the milt owners, Leon ltd Brunnemer, person- net director for the Tfircads- Textiles, Inc. group, said his firm "is happy we're in Ihe real estate business." He said the home rental end of the operation was "never on a business basis. was more a fringe benefit than anything else and a liability more than an assot." Mill homos required upkeep. Rental fees were of a token nature.

In addition, lights and water were furnished with the home. 'The Threads-Textiles group nf mills owned probably a thousand mill nousfs. when the giant was formed in 1931. Now they own none and are pleased. "We aren't in Ibe real estate busi ness.

We're in Iho Ihread business," Bmnnemer says, Given tbe opportunity in the "tight labor' 1 situation that exists today, would the firm go back into the house rental biui- ness BS an added attraction to employees? "No," Brtiuncmer says, Tho idea is to make the jobs more alractive by competitive fiahir- ics, good working conditions, and employee benefits. THKRK ARK those who dis- ngrce with this, however. A spokesman for another mill lirm which at ono time had about 150 douses on Its village, said, "We Ihink sometimes we'd like to have lliem back. It might be an added attraction to workers." A spokesman for (1 vo Thread Co. said his linn "fig.

urcd they (the mill houses) served their purpose. felt like people would have inoro pride it they were Ihe liomo owners." Groves had between 150 and 200 houses. Most'were sold to the employees who were living in them. "We gave tho last two away lo get them moved, "Paul Avery, vice-president of. Hie firm said.

He iiiited that Groves, too, provided Hie house and ils utilities at a "token" rent. "It never was a profitable undertaking, except from the employee attraction standpoint," he said. All this notwithstanding, there are a few firms who retain their mill villages and some have bectuno mwlel tojiunutii- lies. One Is tho Pharr village In McAdcnville. Tho houses hat'k back (o colonial era in design and spoil neatly Irinmicd yards.

Tlie wholes village lias a.well manicured, orderly, happy look. Community spirit and, community pride on Ihe part of employer and employee have contributed to Ihe village achieving "model" status. John properly manager for Plmrr Yarns, says his firm is pleased (hat It lias continued tlio village. "Geographically, it is conductive to go on with Ilia uro- graln we Jmvc. Having tho village homes a'tfords 8 Incalinii for our key employees," lio said.

"We don't make any mini- oy from iho rentals, but we don't lose any either," He adds Hint, "of course, we do not have space enough for all our employees. There possible way to house everyone on the payroll," HAVING KEY people close at hand is well worth the effort, though, ho says. Tho community spirit idea has resulted in "fine churches, a community center, -recreational facilities, a Fourth of July Cclcbratiqn, Women's Clubs, and Ihe' Chris)mas in McAdcnville. The same pervades in lite Siwncer Mountain Iin- (Bclmonl) village also owned by Pliarr. lit all, Iho Ilireo villages Include some 300 homes.

Those Ilireo, plus Ihe village slill maintained by Parkdale Mills in Goslnnia, are vcstiqrs of Ihe post in a modern world. Mill employees row are snil- lercd throughout regular residential developments in Inisllinu communities, Progress )ias replaced their relaxing walk lo work with frantic ride in a slock, whizzing car on a eroded road. Always hold matches till cold PREVENT FOREST FIRES! Tilts is our brand new Chavis Wade! 1608 eight inch traverse jumbo winder, which gives a giant package at high speed. It will run up to 1100 Y.P.M. producing a 22 Ib.

package. This winder, is made especially for carpet trade and is very adaptable for unitil looms used in the weaving industry. We, of course, still manufacture 'our 1200 six inch traverse high speed Cono winder; our 806 six inch traverse high speed dye package winder which makes a very uniform density package in leading to more even dyeing; our high speed change over for No. 44 winders for cither cones or lubes; and our 1220 six inch traverse high speed winder, which produces up lo a 15 Ib, package. All of the above winders, except our Model 1608, can be equipped with our new slotted cams, making it possible to run some of the newest synthetics at a much higher speed producing better packages on both the cone and tube machines.

CHAVIS TEXTILE MANUFACTURING, INC, J. B. CHAVIS, President NORTH HIGHLAND STREET P.O. BOX 939 GASTONIA, N.G. Phone 704 864-8715.