Erwin Mill was a textile mill in Durham, North Carolina that operated between the years of 1893 and 1986. After seeing the success of other cotton mills in the Northeast and locally in Durham, entrepreneur Benjamin N. Duke incorporated the mill in 1892 and recruited William H. Erwin to manage the enterprise. The mill's success in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was the result of Erwin's and his successors' exceptional management tactics, even when the factory hit obstacles such as the Great Depression and the unionization of its workers. The mill grew quickly in the late 19th century and early 20th century, became one of North Carolina's largest cotton mills.Catherine Bishir and Michael Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (The University of North Carolina Press, 2003), 208. It originally produced muslin pouches for tobacco, but the mill would later expand its production to other fabrics, becoming one of the largest producers of denim in the world during the early 1900s. Workers at the mill enjoyed some of the best working conditions and highest wages in textile factories throughout the southern United States. Mill employees would later sign union-friendly labor agreements that were radical to the southern textile industry in the early to mid 20th century.“A Statement by the Erwin Mills,” Erwin Mills Cotton Company, 1945. The establishment of homes, businesses and recreation areas in the mill village was a significant factor in the development of the West Durham, especially the Ninth Street business district and the Old West Durham Neighborhood. Erwin Cotton Mills Company Mill No. 1 Headquarters Building is on the National Register of Historic Places and the mill village of West Durham is a National Historic District. An apartment complex, office building and shopping center of the same name that are built on the original site also commemorate the factory.
Background
The idea of the Erwin Mill was rooted in the successful textile industry in New England and the Northeast. In the early 1800s, industrialists such as Samuel Slater brought the ideas behind cotton-spinning machines to the United States from England, which allowed the production of textiles on a mass scale.John Newman and John Schmalbach, United States History (Amsco School Publications Inc., 2010), 185. Even though northern cities such as Lowell, Massachusetts were home to the first large textile mills in the 1830s, industrialization and large textile mills reached Southern cities after the Civil War.
In the post-war South, subsistence agriculture and the plantation system yielded to more commercialized agriculture, which required less manpower, freeing labor to work in the mills. Many subsistence and yeoman farming families who faced hard times flocked to urban centers in search of work.Jacquelyn Hall, James Leloudis, Robert Korstead, Mary Murphy, Lu Ann Jones, Christopher Daly, Like A Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World (The University of North Carolina Press, 1987), 31 The construction of complex railroad networks happened simultaneously to the growth of southern cities, making them prime candidates to become centers of industrialization.Jacquelyn Hall, James Leloudis, Robert Korstead, Mary Murphy, Lu Ann Jones, Christopher Daly, Like A Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World (The University of North Carolina Press, 1987), 24 The growth of cities and infrastructure in the South allowed entrepreneurs open large factories, which took advantage of cheap labor that was rarely under the influence of a union. Many opened textile factories to manufacture the cotton crop that the Southern states had produced for years. By the turn of the century, much of the textile industry had shifted from the Northeastern United States to the South. In 1900, there were 177 mills in North Carolina alone.Jacquelyn Hall, James Leloudis, Robert Korstead, Mary Murphy, Lu Ann Jones, Christopher Daly, Like A Family: The Making of a Southern Cotton Mill World (The University of North Carolina Press, 1987), 26 The industry reached Durham in the 1880s, when Durham businessman Julian Carr opened the Durham Cotton Manufacturing Company to manufacture cloth bags for tobacco.Catherine Bishir and Michael Southern, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina (The University of North Carolina Press, 2003), 201. The mill's early success confirmed that a textile mill located in Durham or the surrounding area could be successful.
Beginnings
The Duke family, which had been successful in starting the American Tobacco Company, looked to diversify their interests beyond the tobacco industry and raised $125,000 of start-up funds to build the factory. Benjamin Duke wanted to build the mill in North Carolina, offering that the central part of the state was "the most healthful locality in the South."Robert J Durden, The Dukes of Durham 1865-1929 (Duke University Press, 1975), 131. Duke elected to construct the mills in West Durham, North Carolina, at the modern intersection of Main and Ninth Streets. Duke was traveling when his lawyers inquired about a name for the mills, so without any way to immediately contact Duke, the lawyers declared the mills to be named after the manager Duke had appointed to be in charge of the plant, William H. Erwin.William Kenneth Boyd, The Story of Durham: City of the New South (Duke University Press, 1925), 122 In 1892, construction began on Mill No.1. Erwin Cotton Mills showcased its success when it made a profit soon after it opened, even during a recession in 1893. In fact, the mill was so successful in its first few years of operation that production expanded to include denims. In 1896, the mill became one of the state's largest textile mills, employing 1,000 workers and doubling its production in just four years.William Kenneth Boyd, The Story of Durham: City of the New South (Duke University Press, 1925), 123
Growth
Early years
Erwin continued to diversify the mill's production and found new buyers across the world for the factory's finished products. The mill expanded its production to include sheets, muslins and denim, among other goods.Erwin Mills Cotton Co., The Erwin Story, (Erwin Cotton Mills Co., n.d.) Because the mill was producing more finished products, capital gains increased to more than seven million dollars of stock. With his operation and profits growing rapidly, Erwin decided to open additional mills, in Erwin, North Carolina and Cooleemee, North Carolina in 1902 and 1905.
Market expansion
At the beginning of the 20th century the mill faced growing pains and was forced to change its selling strategies and the way it handled its relations with employees to succeed. Although the market price of textiles rose in the early 1900s, demand was not as strong as it had been during the mill's infant years, but Duke and Erwin worked tirelessly to find buyers overseas, especially in Asia.Robert J Durden, The Dukes of Durham 1865-1929 (Duke University Press, 1975), 139-140. Erwin and Duke worked together with the British-American Tobacco Company to break into the Asian market, however Erwin reported that the mill still was having "strenuous times." It is possible that the denims the mill sent to China were the first to reach the country, which had practiced isolationism for much of the 1800s.Robert J Durden, The Dukes of Durham 1865-1929 (Duke University Press, 1975), 142. One of the reasons why the mill was so successful in its early years was because it employed poor workers in the post-war south who worked for extremely low wages in the recession years of the 1890s. Most men earned a maximum of $2.50 per day, while women and children earned even less. This helped the mill keep costs down and profits up, even while production increased. But, at the turn of the century, when the country emerged from the Panic of 1893, workers began to expect higher pay and fewer hours. Thus, Erwin and his management team decided to change conditions at the factory in order to create a better atmosphere for current and future employees. For example, Erwin Mills gave its employees a 40-hour workweek, which decreased the number of hours worked per week by almost 35 percent. Favorable economic conditions during the 1910s allowed the mill to have its most successful decade since its inception. Stock rose to more than $150 a share and Erwin wrote to Duke in 1913 that he was aspiring to reach a profit of $2,000,000 that year.Robert J Durden, The Dukes of Durham 1865-1929 (Duke University Press, 1975), 144-145. Duke was so pleased with Erwin's management that he authorized Erwin's salary to be increased by $5,000 the same year. Economists and entrepreneurs from all over the United States recognized the mill's renowned prosperity. Economist Frederick L. Baily said, "of all the mills in the south, the Erwin Cotton Mills Company has a place entirely by itself." Combined with the mills in Erwin and Coleemee, Erwin's Durham operation had become a major textile producer in North Carolina and the southern United States.
Physical expansion
A second mill was constructed at the West Durham plant in 1925, which expanded and deepened Erwin Mills' impact and presence in Durham. Durham leaders wanted to prevent West Durham from incorporating into its own city, to leave open the possibility expanding city limits to include prosperous mill town. However, Erwin wanted West Durham to maintain its hegemony as its own village, separate from the city of Durham. When Durham leaders and Erwin came to an agreement that allowed West Durham to remain an independent mill village, Erwin began construction of a second mill. The 35,000 square foot mill cost $2,500,000 to build and had 35,000 spindles and 1,200 looms.“New Cotton Mill,” The Wall Street Journal, October 6, 1923. The mill was named Mill No. 4 because two other mills were already operating outside of Durham County.
Great Depression and World War II
Although the plant's growth was staggered in the mid-20th century, the management of Erwin Mills continued profit and expand, even through the Great Depression. The mill was largely unaffected compared to other businesses in the country because of an established system that had produced a consistent profit prior to the Great Depression. The mill did not do particularly well when the country faced hard times from 1929 to 1938, but thousands of workers kept their jobs and were paid at least 25 cents an hour. Erwin became ill and died in 1932 and was succeeded by KP Lewis. Lewis steered the mill through the Depression and the looming threat of unionization, without damaging the mill's profitability. Some reports indicate that 1938 was the final year that the mills had an annual loss until 1975.Richard C. Franck, “Oral History of West Durham,” Duke University Libraries, 1975 Lewis oversaw the acquisition of other mills in the south that were brought under the Erwin name, including mills in Stonewall, Mississippi and Wake County, North Carolina. World War II allowed the mill to fully emerge from the Depression, as it produced textiles in support of the war overseas and in return received government money for its products. However, the mill was losing control over the surrounding village. In the 1930s, it was incorporated into the city of Durham and in the early 1940s, Erwin Mills began selling the houses it had built north of the factory. This hinted at the mill's decline as other employers in the city grew, such as Watts Hospital and Duke University.
Effects on the development of West Durham