Download Free Canton Cotton Mills Book in PDF and EPUB Free Download. You can read online Canton Cotton Mills and write the review.

History of the Canton, Georgia Cotton Mills 1899 - 1981 through photography?Detailed photos showing the construction of the mills, employees, machinery, mill village life and historic documents.
In 1830, settlers in Woodstock first cleared the land for crops and livestock. Paths were crude and rough. In the mid- to late 1800s, the small, agricultural community grew into a town with grocers, blacksmiths, mills, and livery stables with help from the railroad, which was a trading and communication line to the new town. Before the Civil War, the cotton industry boomed; in 1860, there were 33 cotton mills in Georgia employing about 2,800 workers. But by the 1930s, Woodstock had suffered the drastic effects of the Depression, and the cotton industry declined. In the 1940s, after the Depression left many farmers broke, poultry became the new thriving business. The depot, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1912 by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad to replace the depot of 1879. It served as the center of shipping and receiving freight and the arrival and departure point for civilian passengers and military personnel.
Chartered on December 24, 1833, Canton was the county seat of the fledging Cherokee County, which the Georgia Legislature created two years earlier from Cherokee Indian Territory. Situated in a wide curve of the Etowah River, Canton was ideally located to become the economic, social, and educational center of the region. The earliest white settlers had already started arriving in the area, lured by the discovery of gold, state lotteries offering free land, and abundant natural resources. Early residents like William Grisham, Judge Joseph Donaldson, and John P. Brooke quickly established themselves as leaders of the new town. As Canton thrived, it became home to men like Joseph Emerson Brown, who later served as Georgia's governor during the Civil War--a distinction that led to the town being mostly burned by Sherman's troops. By the early 1900s, the railroad brought a new prosperity, a cotton mill was flourishing, and Canton was set to enjoy the next century as a center of government, banking, and commerce.
The textile era was born of a perfect storm. When North Georgia's red clay failed farmers and prices fell during Reconstruction, opportunities arose. Beginning in the 1880s, textile industries moved south. Mill owners enticed an entire workforce to leave their farms and move their families into modern mill villages, encased communities with stores, theaters, baseball teams, bands and schools. To some workers, mill village life was idyllic. They had work, recreation, education, shopping and a home with the modern conveniences of running water and electricity. Most importantly, they got a paycheck. But after the New Deal, workers started to see the raw deal they were getting from mill owners and rebelled. Strikes and economic changes began to erode the era of mill villages, and by the 1960s, mill village life was all but gone. Author Lisa Russell brings these once-vibrant communities back to life.