Monday, September 26, 2016

County Had Hosiery Mills in Rosman


Stock certificate for Rosman Knitting.
Hosiery mills were a common industry during the first half of the 20th century.  There were well over a hundred hosiery mills in North Carolina.  Although the majority were located in Alamance, Guilford, Catawba, Randolph, Davidson, and Burke Counties there were two hosiery mills in Transylvania County.

The Rosman Knitting Mill operated for only a couple of years in the 1930s but Wheeler Hosiery was a thriving business in Brevard for 18 years.

Alfred W. Wheeler had worked for Chipman Knitting of Pennsylvania before owning and operating a hosiery mill in East Flat Rock.  In 1936 he leased, and later purchased, the Joiner Building on West Main Street in Brevard.  Wheeler’s son, George, supervised remodeling and machinery installation.  George Wheeler managed the plant which employed approximately 70 people.

The former Wheeler Hosiery building is Rice Furniture today.
Within two years the Wheelers had purchased the Kilpatrick Building on Caldwell Street in order to expand production of high grade full fashioned silk hosiery for women.  They installed dye and finishing equipment allowing their product to be market ready from Brevard.  Employment was increase to about 85 people, working three shifts. 

Originally the hosiery was made of rayon, before switching to nylon.  During WWII the military used nylon for parachutes so the hosiery industrial returned to using rayon and cotton for their products.  Wheeler also changed to 12-hour shifts during WWII. 

In 1947 workers at the mill voted 54 to 24 to join the American Federation of Hosiery Workers labor union.  In October 1951 Chipman Knitting purchased Wheeler Hosiery.  They continued to operate it under the Wheeler name. 

The Winter-Spring 1953 Employment Security Commission of North Carolina newsletter stated that Wheeler’s Hosiery “operated 72 full fashioned hosiery machines producing ladies’ hosiery, chief brand of which is Wheeler.  Products are sold to jobbers, chain stores, and department stores.”

Wheeler Hosiery closed in October 1954 due to over-production and the need for machinery upgrades.  The mill employed 60 people at that time.  In April 1955 there was an attempt to re-open the mill.  It appears they were unsuccessful as the 12,500 square foot building was sold to Pearlman’s Furniture in June 1956. 

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Monday, September 19, 2016

Grocery Stores Were Family Businesses

Grand Opening at Harold Saltz "super market"
on Old Hendersonville Highway in Brevard, 1950.
Grocery stores of the early to mid-1900s were generally small family run businesses, although there were some large chains such as A&P and Piggly Wiggly.  These stores typically carried non-perishable food packaged in cans, bottles and boxes, fresh produce, dairy products and meat.  Miscellaneous things like pencils and tablets, cigarettes, toiletries, and small hardware items were commonly available as well.

A town the size of Brevard had several grocery stores.  The 1947 Citizen’s Telephone directory lists Broadway Grocery, Cash & Carry Market, French Broad Grocery, Home Grocery, Mitchem’s Grocery, Mull’s Market & Grocery, and Scott’s Grocery all in the downtown area.  There was also an A&P downtown and at least four other grocery stores were on the outskirts of Brevard.

Ray Burgin inside his store.
Burgin’s Grocery Store on old Highway 64 was 20 years old and the former home of three previous stores when Ray Burgin bought it in 1945.   Burgin moved the store back from the road, enclosed a porch and added on to the building.  He sold groceries, fresh produce, dairy products, packaged meats, plus some odds and ends.  In 1962 the store began operating 7-days a week, with late evening hours.  Burgin’s was the place to get whatever had been forgotten on the big weekly shopping trip.  Burgin’s Grocery closed in in the mid-1970s following Ray Burgin’s death in 1973.

In 1923 M.O. and Myra McCall opened a grocery store along Highway 64 in Quebec on property that had originally belong to Myra’s grandfather, John Whitmire.  The store sold canned goods, candy and a few other general items.  Everyone in the surrounding rural area raised farm animals and had large gardens so meat, dairy, and produce were not carried.  M.O. McCall passed away in 1963 and the store closed a year later.  The building was torn down in 1988.

Inside Cascade Grocery in the Little River community, 1991.
Dozens of other family owned and operated grocery stores were scattered throughout the communities of Transylvania County where nearby residents could purchase food and small items and gather to visit with neighbors.  If you have photographs of some of these stores that you would like to preserve for future generations please contact the Local History Room staff at the library.


Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.


Monday, September 12, 2016

Franklin Hotel Offered Several Amenities

This photograph shows the size the Franklin Hotel from the front.
Large wings of both sides of the back created a V shaped building.
The Franklin Hotel opened in Brevard in July 1900.  J. Frances Hayes and his business partners had purchased the Hendersonville-Brevard Railway Telegraph and Telephone Company, renamed it Transylvania Railroad Company and planned to expand the line beyond Brevard.  They agreed to construct a luxury hotel in Brevard to garner support for a $25,000 bond to aid in financing the rail line extension.

The 80-acre property included tennis courts and a small lake in a park-like setting.  The hotel, which could accommodate 150-200 guests, had a large veranda where cool evenings could be enjoyed.  There was regularly an orchestra and dancing.

Franklin Hotel Dining Room.
An early tourism brochure described it as, “thoroughly modern and luxurious in appointments and furnishings, and ranks as one of the best resort hotels in America.  It occupies the highest point in Brevard, and is surrounded by a park of eighty acres, overlooking in the French Broad river and valley.  Every room is an outside room with a pleasant outlook and commanding view of mountain and valley, and many are arranged en suite, with private bath, for families.”

Carl Schenck states in his book, Birth of Forestry in America, “rooms with real baths were obtainable, and my frequent overnight stays in Brevard ceased to be disturbed by fleas, bedbugs, and rats.”

Despite the wonderful accolades the hotel was sold four times by 1909.  In January 1909 T.W. Whitmire and other investors purchased the property.   Lots from the hotel’s 80 acres were to be sold for $500 each.  Conditions for lot purchase included building a residence costing at least $2000 on the property within 2 years.

Over the next 40 years the hotel changed hands numerous times.  In 1919 J.C. and H.W. Wooten purchased the hotel with plans to update and improve it.  In 1925 additional improvements were made, including a two-story addition to the east wing and a screened porch on the back.  In 1936 it was announced that steam heat would be added to allow for winter guests as well.

By the late 1940’s the old hotel was showing its age.  For several years Miss Annie Shipman was the manager.  Transylvania Times articles show that it was open for summer visitors at least through the 1949 season.

On September 17, 1950 the congregation of the Brevard-Davidson River Presbyterian Church voted to purchase the hotel and 7 acres.  The hotel dining room became the sanctuary, bedrooms were converted into Sunday School classrooms, and a new Manse was built behind the old hotel.  In March 1956 the old hotel was torn down to make way for construction of the current church. 


Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.

Monday, September 5, 2016

Estatoe Path Was First Major Road in County

The Estatoe Path was likely the earliest road through what is today Transylvania County.  Long before Europeans ventured into the area a path was being carved through the valleys between the higher mountains to the north and the lowlands to the south.  The path was not one defined roadway, but rather an intertwining network of trails first worn into the earth by migrating animals.

Buffalo once roamed in this area.
Buffalo, elk, and deer were efficient travelers, taking the easiest route to their grazing grounds and water sources.  Wolves and mountain lions also travelled these paths as they followed the herds and hunted.

The early native people who lived and roamed throughout the area used these same paths.  Later the Cherokee would use them as they moved between their valley towns in present day northwestern South Carolina and northeastern Georgia up the French Broad River to their over-the-hill towns in the mountains of what is now Western North Carolina.  The Cherokee also used the smaller trails branching off the main path as they hunted game, harvested berries and nuts, and gathered hardwood, flint, and copper for their tools. 

As explorers, trappers, and traders came into the region they too used these paths, continuing to widen the principle trails.  Trappers transported furs from the mountains to port in Charleston and goods from Charleston back into the mountains for trading.

North Carolina historical highway markers in Transylvania County
commemorate the Estatoe Path.
When settlers arrived in the late 1700s the local militia was ordered to build a wagon road following near the Estatoe Path from the Swannanoa River to Mills River to Davidson River.
A few years later Buncombe County Court ordered the laying out of a road from the (Estatoe) Ford of Ben Davidson’s River to the middle fork of the French Broad River.

In September 1956 North Carolina historical highway markers were placed on US 178 at the French Broad River Bridge in Rosman and on US 64-276 at the Davidson River Bridge northeast of Brevard recognizing the Estatoe Path.  The markers read, “Trade route between mountain settlements of the Cherokee and their town, Estatoe, in what is now South Carolina passed nearby.”

Photographs and information for this column are provided by the Rowell Bosse North Carolina Room, Transylvania County Library.  Visit the NC Room during regular library hours (Monday-Friday) to learn more about our history and see additional photographs.  For more information, comments or suggestions contact Marcy at marcy.thompson@transylvaniacounty.org or 828-884-3151 X242.