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Foundation
of the Leaksville Cotton Mill
422 Church Street
in Gov. Morehead Park
Spray Section,
Eden, NC
One of the oldest
manufacturing sites in North Carolina. JOHN MOTLEY MOREHEAD founded the
Leaksville Cotton Mill, adjacent to Spray Canal, in the late 1830’s with
the assistance of his first superintendent, JOHN HALL BULLARD of Massachusetts.
The original mill was three-stories, with a full basement and was known as
the “Old Stone Factory” for its solid rubblestone construction. This was
the centerpiece of an eventual industrial complex as other smaller
structures were built on the property for manufacturing purposes.
According to historian
Lindley S. Butler, an 1857 article on the mill described it as using
350,000 pounds of cotton woven into 270,000 yards of cloth. During the
Civil War, the mill manufactured cotton and woolen cloth for the
Confederacy.
In 1893, just one year after
two mills merged as the Leaksville Cotton and Woolen Mill Company under the
direction of B. FRANK MEBANE and W. R. WALKER, Jr., the “Old Stone Factory”
was destroyed, along with surrounding buildings, due to a lightning strike.
MEBANE immediately rebuilt the cotton mill with a new three-story brick
structure very similar to the mill that incorporated the original stone
foundation and basement.
The property changed hands
numerous times through the years and this historic structure fell into a
state of disrepair. After attempts by local preservationists to save the property,
the entire complex was demolished in 1992 with the exception of the
original stone foundation, which is all that remains today. The Eden
Preservation Society purchased the site in 1996 and established the Gov.
Morehead Park.
The Eden Preservation Society would like to SAVE this historically significant
structure from the ravages of time. The remnants of the stone foundation
are in need of stabilization and restoration, but financial support is
necessary to begin this process. Additional funding is also being sought
for landscaping and maintenance of the park.
October 18, 2009 - News & Record article: Mill History Crumbling: Preservationists Pursue a Plan to Restore a Wall at Eden Cotton Mill
We
NEED
YOUR HELP!
Make
your check payable to:
Eden
Preservation Society (re: Gov. Morehead Park).
All contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Source:
A Tale of Three Cities, Eden’s Heritage: A Pictorial Survey of Leaksville, Spray and Draper. Published by the Eden Historic
Preservation Commission, 1998 (available for sale at the Eden Historical
Museum and at Eden
City Hall).
MORE
HISTORIC PROPERTIES
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