“All the affairs of the village and the conditions of living of all of the people are regulated entirely by the mill company. Practically speaking, the company owns everything and controls everything, and to a large extent controls everybody in the mill village.”
Federal Investigators 1907-8, From Like a Family
Questions
- What is the overall tone of this excerpt?
- Interpret why the company would wish to own everything and control everything.
- Explain whether you believe that the Federal Investigators thought that the village dynamics were beneficial or detrimental for the workers.
- Determine the affect the company’s control may have had on the workers.
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Springsteen Mill Village
Fourteen homes were located near the mill when Colonel Springs purchased it in 1898. By 1904, when the mill first appeared on the Sanborn maps, more houses had grown around it; this marked the establishment of the mill village. By 1910, the streets in the village had been named. The major growth occurred between 1910 and 1917. The village was listed as Springsteen Tenements, and numerous homes were on the map. The mill village had grown substantially, and while most of the dwellings were approximately the same size, several were quite large. The village continued to grow though never as rapidly as during this period. The residents of the village were primarily white, and all were employed at Springsteen Mill. The proximity of the village to the commercial district on Gadsden Street contributed to the development of businesses in that area. The residents of the village would have been patrons of the grocery stores, barbershops, and service station located along this strip. Though Walnut Street was not a part of the mill village, several large houses were built along it for the mill overseers.
Questions
- Do you think that a community would have developed in this location without the mill? Why or why not?
- Identify why the company would have built housing for their workers to rent.
- Where did the mill overseers live?
- Contrast the distance from the mill that the workers and the overseers lived. Why do you think there was a difference?
- Do you think that the placement of the grocery stores, barbershops, and service station was deliberate or a more organic placement? Explain your reasoning.
- Assess and explain how the proximity of the grocery stores, barbershops and other services help contribute to the community aspect of the mill village.
The Following Excerpt is From: OLYMPIA MILL AND VILLAGE Upper Richland County, South Carolina Historical and Architectural Inventory
By the 1920s, Olympia had a Y.M.C.A., five churches, a medical dispensary, and playgrounds, athletic fields, parks, and a school that were the envy of Columbia.
(Recently) three hundred and eighty-two buildings were surveyed and included the following:
354 houses
1 boarding house
1 union hall
1 armory
2 churches
4 outbuildings
1 school
1 mill
9 stores
Questions
- What does this list of buildings and amenities tell you about the mill village (size, needs, way of life, etc.)?
- How would the makeup of the mill village encourage division between mill workers and townspeople?
The Following Excerpt is From Old West Durham
It was not unusual to receive a notice to move when you lived in one of Erwin Mill's houses on Mill Hill or in Monkey Bottom in West Durham, N.C... You have to remember... the houses were owned by the Mill, and you lived in the Mill's houses at the mercy of the Mill.
Often, when these houses would get into ill repair, they would move families to another Mill house, while they repaired the one that you and your family were in... Sometimes, the Mill would just tear down a house that had gone beyond repair.
One of my fondest memories, as a child, was when a house, scheduled for demolition, would become vacant. My brothers and I and the children in the neighborhood would play in the houses, and we had the best of times! We played Store, we played Army, or we pretended these treasures were Our Castles, and, literally, we just let our imaginations run wild.
- What aspect of mill life is this excerpt referring to?
- The author mentions moving, "at the mercy of the Mill." What connotation does this hold?
- Examine what reasoning the mill owners had for making their employees move. What are some positive and negative motives?
- Interpret how you think the author of this excerpt felt about the control the overseers and owners had over their living arrangements.
- How did the author of this excerpt turn this aspect of control into a happy memory?
- Judge how you would feel if someone could tell you to move and you had no say in the matter.
Questions
- What does this image show?
- How does this illustrate the community aspect of the mill village?
- The caption states that Cotton Mills played against each other. Why do you think that only Cotton Mill teams played in the league?
Questions
- What is shown in the center of the image? Explain why this would be.
- What do you notice about the houses?
- Why do you think all of the houses look the same?
- What affect might this uniformity have on mill workers?
The Following Image is from Documenting the American South Mill News
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The Avondale Mill Band, Birmingham, Ala., in the Parade of the Rainbow Division, in their First Annual Reunion, Birmingham, July 14, 1920. |
Questions
- What does this image show?
- How does this illustrate the community aspect of the mill village?
- Analyze how the workers’ participation in the mill band represented their feelings towards their jobs and employers.
Flossie Moore Durham speaking about the divisions of race and gender.
Questions
- What is the overall tone of this audio excerpt?
- How does this audio excerpt show the community aspect of the mill village?
- What affect did the stratification of men and women have on the mill village?
- How did the aspects of the mill village further the segregation of black and white workers?
- Mills allow children to work, but were strict about people who worked. Today, both of these instances would be looked down on, what was different during this time that child labor was considered OK?
