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Chatham Manufacturing Mill

Coordinates: 36°14′42″N 80°50′41″W / 36.2449°N 80.8447°W / 36.2449; -80.8447
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Chatham Manufacturing Company-Western Electric Company
The second Chatham Mill, built in 1893
Chatham Manufacturing Mill is located in North Carolina
Chatham Manufacturing Mill
Chatham Manufacturing Mill is located in the United States
Chatham Manufacturing Mill
Location750 & 800 Chatham Rd., Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Coordinates36°6′17″N 80°15′18″W / 36.10472°N 80.25500°W / 36.10472; -80.25500
Area6 acres (2.4 ha)
Built1907 (1907)
NRHP reference No.11000509[1]
Added to NRHPAugust 4, 2011

Chatham Manufacturing Mill was built by the Chatham Manufacturing Company. The former textile mill is located in Winston-Salem in North Carolina.

History

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The Chatham Manufacturing Company was founded in 1877 in Elkin North Carolina. The original Mill was on Elkin Creek, but moved alongside the Yadkin River to take advantage of the railroad.

Growth

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A second factory would be built in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1907 and expanded through 1951. The factory complex consists of a series of interconnected one to five-story heavy timber frame, brick, steel, and concrete industrial buildings. The complex also includes a coal trestle (1907); two small buildings erected in the 1940s (a brick fire pump house and a concrete block workshop); an electrical substation (1948-1954); and a one-story brick office building (1937). The Chatham Manufacturing Company consolidated its operations at Elkin in 1940, and the Winston-Salem plant was subsequently purchased by the United States Government. It was occupied by National Carbon Company (1943-1945) and Western Electric (1946-1966), who manufactured equipment for the United States military.[2]

The Winston-Salem complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.[1]

During the first part of the century the primary focus of company sales were blankets but by the 1930s the company started producing automotive upholstery. By the 1980s the company had plants located in Eden, North Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina along with the Elkin plant.

Current use

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The mill complex has been redeveloped into luxury apartments.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties. National Park Service. 2011-08-12.
  2. ^ Heather Fearnbach (March 2011). "Chatham Manufacturing Company-Western Electric Company" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 2014-11-01.
  3. ^ "Abandoned textile plant off Northwest Boulevard downtown is gaining new life as Chatham Mill project advances, evolves its socioeconomic mission".

Further reading

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  • Powell, William S., The North Carolina Gazetteer: A Dictionary of Tar Heel Places, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 0-8078-1247-1
  • Powell, William S., Encyclopedia of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 978-0-8078-3071-0
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36°14′42″N 80°50′41″W / 36.2449°N 80.8447°W / 36.2449; -80.8447