Of particular interest is a collection of several hundred maps that were originally owned by the Rockingham County government, which are largely maps made by engineers, for the purpose of delineating land ownership, rather than maps used for navigation or other purposes. The 1962 Hill’s Leaksville, Spray and Draper (Rockingham County, N.C.) City Directory refers to the mills as the “economic backbone of the Tri-Cities.” Additionally, a 1977 report on the community by the County’s library reported that such a large percentage of the population of Rockingham County was employed in the textile industry that any economic downturn regarding textiles on a national level “would adversely affect Rockingham County’s entire economy.” Įvidence of the importance of mills to the county can be seen in many of the historical maps that are in the possession of the MARC.

The importance of the textile mills to the populace of Rockingham County historically cannot be overstated. Draper incorporated just under 50 years after the construction of the mill, in 1949. Following the construction of the mill, the Rockingham Land Company sought to develop the town, a railroad was constructed, schools opened, churches were established, and the Bank of Draper was opened in 1920. Įntire cities in Rockingham County were developed due to their proximity to a textile mill. In 1953 Marshall Field and Company sold all of their mills in Rockingham County to Fieldcrest Mills, Inc. in an area referred to as “the Meadows.” In 1912 the mill was purchased by the Marshall Field and Company, who also bought several of the mills in the surrounding area. In the early 1900’s, one of the mills in Draper was owned by the German-American Co. Mebane had established so many mills that he did not have the money to fund all of them properly and Marshall Field and Company ended up taking control of his mills. Benjamin Franklin Mebane would oversee the establishment of a number of additional mills in the late 1800s and early 1900s, including the Nantucket Mill, American Warehouse, and Lily Mill, among several others. īy 1890, there was a cotton mill in Reidsville, soon followed by Mayo Mills at Mayodan, the Spray Cotton Mill, and the mill at Avalon, which burned down in 1911, and was never reconstructed. Following the Civil War, Morehead would hire only white workers to work in his textile mill. In 1840, the Leaksville Cotton Mill employed 40 people, and by 1860, the census documented 80 women and 25 men working there. It was one of the first textile mills opened in Rockingham County. Morehead opened the Leaksville Cotton Mill in 1839. Through historical maps, it is possible to learn about how interactions between the mills and the communities that were centered around them influenced one another and changed over time. Historical maps allow some insight into the ways that these places looked throughout different points in time. Mills heavily impacted the development of cities and towns throughout Rockingham County, and North Carolina more broadly.

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