mcm

Building a Town: 3,000 Spindles
Cotton was a minor crop prior to 1793, due to the labor-intensive requirement to separate cottonseeds from the cotton. In the 18th Century, 25 farm hands working on 25 cotton bales needed 100 days to seed the crop.

While widely grown, cotton was a small crop intended for local use in homespun cloth. There were small jenny mills, sometimes on plantations, operated by hand, mules or oxen producing a crude yarn suitable for homespun. The Eli Whitney Cotton Gin did the work of 10 men. As the gin was improved and access spread, it encouraged Mooresville area farmers to grow the crop, which could be sold easily. Crop was hauled overland or on riverboats to access points to ship north to powered textile spinning mills.

Beginning about 1840, cotton became a leading cash crop for North Carolina farmers. The demand for cotton focused farmers primarily on growing the crop in the South until 1840, when the effort to create new planting areas slowed. This allowed more resources to be diverted to cotton processing. Moreover, pioneering efforts proved that cotton mills could be highly profitable.

The lure of being near the fields caused many to think about creating a powered textile mill. Mooresville had immediate access to the railroad and vast fields of cotton crops, making it ready for the textile industry. In 1893 James Elbert Sherrill and a group of local merchants and investors organized the Mooresville Cotton Mills, the first powered cotton manufacturing plant in Mooresville.

James Elbert Sherrill came to Mooresville from Sherrills Ford in 1873 to work in the Culp and Caldwell store. Described as a clever young man, he joined with Isaac Harris to buy the firm and continue operations as Harris and Sherrill. This general merchandise business was located on Main Street and adjacent to the Depot. Sherrill married Margaret Emma Harris in 1875 and later built a home at 304 South Main Street. The Sherrill's daughter, LuTelle Sherrill Williams, demolished the home in 1939 to make way for the Mooresville Public Library.

Sherrill took a personal interest in both the operations of the mill and the effort to sell stock. Support came from local citizens eager to get involved in a profitable operation that world bring economic stability to the town. During his 30-year presidency, assets grew from $28,265 to $4,507927.88. He along with his partners and directors, George C. Goodman and Pascal Boyd among them, brought job opportunities and employment to thousands of Mooresville residents. He served as president and chairman of the board until the time of his death in 1933.

On February 6, 1893 the Mooresville Board of Commissioners passed a law exempting the Mooresville Cotton Mills from taxation for 10 years. Samuel Lowrance led the site selection committee in choosing “Moore Falls” for the location of the new mill. Purchased from Mrs. John F. Moore for $500 in company stock, the site provided space for a building planned to accommodate workers taking ginned cotton and processing it into finished yarn. The directors authorized the purchase of more than 200 cords of oak and pine wood. Bricks were made from clay on the site, with the brick masons paid with stock in the corporation.

With 3,000 spindles in place and on January 1, 1894, the production of cotton yarn began. The first product was yarn made from local and regional cotton. There was no siding at the plant so ginned cotton was delivered by wagon. An audit on January 25, 1894 showed a total investment of nearly $42,000 in buildings, machinery and housing for workers. An elevated wood water tank holding 33,000 gallons diverted water from the branch for spinning, weaving, carding and roving operations. The corporation declared its first 4% dividend in 1897, followed by an 8% dividend in 1898.

Operations outgrew the Church Street facilities quickly so Sherrill looked south for large tracts of land near the railroad on which to build plants and homes for operatives. They bought property from the Templeton family and started construction on the No. 2 mill in 1900, followed by No. 3 mill in 1907. Mill No. 4 included the "big weave room" and the towel department on two levels with 118,000 square feet of floor space on each level.

At the same time contractor Ralph Brawley built the first 40 “tenement” homes near the main mill site that would become the Mooresville Mill Village. It would grow to include 479 buildings ranging from homes, boarding houses, a school house, farm buildings, structures housing a barber shop, grocery store and café and an unassembled airplane hangar.

By 1925 the company had five plants operating 57,000 spindles and 1800 looms. A state-of-the-art Dye and Finishing plant and modern steam plant were constructed to support the spinning and weaving operations. The capital stock totaled $3,288,375. The plants manufactured ginghams, whipcord and outing flannels. The 1927 cotton market was in freefall and MCM suffered losses from the sales of goods at less than manufacturing cost.

MCM took a bold step to expand its operations into new products with the purchase of specialty looms for fancy handkerchiefs and towels. While establishing the new products, the company issued $500,000 in preferred stock ($115 per share) to maintain an adequate level of operating capital.

With nearly 2,000 employees dependent on the mill for their livelihood, the success of the Moor Quality Turkish Towel was essential for the future of the mill and the town. A mill with a new character was to emerge from hard times, strikes and the Great Depression.