The rise of textile industry in Lindale

With tens of thousands of cotton bales coming up the Coosa River each season, it soon caught the eye of the New England Textile Manufacturing base. Charles Lovering, treasurer of the Massachusetts Cotton Mills in Lowell, Massachusetts, was on a quest to find a suitable place to locate a mill in the south.

Arthur Hunking, a young engineer had traveled through the south, scouting out locations, and finally decided on a piece of land in what is now Lindale. Lovering presented his idea to the mill company board, but they refused to give the authority for such a move. A new company was created, Massachusetts Cotton Mills in Georgia, funds were raised, and construction began. The mill officially opened in 1896, with Arthur Hunking remaining as the new mill’s agent (title for CEO).

It was a raw, rough place, and went through three agents in its first five years. C.H. Edmondson wrote in 1938 of conditions he saw in 1898. “He said it was a typical mill town of the time, inhabited by employee’s who came from other mill towns, farmers whose crops had failed (both of my grandfathers would fit in this category), widows with many children. Living conditions were hard, but were considered an improvement for some who had come from the mountains and others from failed farms, and those that were unable to recover losses from Civil War

and reconstruction days. What they had was steady work and pay.”

At the turn of the century, the mill was not making a profit and was on the verge of failure.

Mr. Lovering brought in his fourth agent. On Jan. 1, 1901, Henry Parish Miekleham came to Lindale. He found a new, ugly place, with bare unfinished grounds. There was little grass, shrubbery or trees, and employee’s confronted with uncertainty.

H.P. Miekleham was born in New York on May 28, 1872, had already been affiliated with two Northern Mills, and came to Lindale from a mill in Aiken, South Carolina.

He had married Virginia Grafton in 1897, she was from a cultural background and an accomplished horsewoman. In an era of women’s suffrage she raised the standard, riding around town with a split riding skirt, and sitting on a horse like a man.

Miekleham was the great-greatgrandson of Thomas Jefferson, and was the most direct ancestor when he died. He had served for years as the president of the Jefferson Association, and is buried in the family lot at Monticello.

He was 29 years old that morning in Lindale, and went to work immediately developing the town. By 1902 he was already planning the construction of mill no. 3, which would be on the opposite side of Silver Creek and joined to the other two mills by a gangplank. Never one to miss a celebration, he called for a barbecue on the fourth of July in 1902. Construction was halted, and the employees were treated to what would become a habit of his.

He built the mill office in 1902, and began the construction of a second village across the railroad tracks referred to as “New Town.” In 1904, number three mill was completed. It would equal both of the other mills, having 1,300 looms producing ducks, drills, osnaburg and sheeting.

Miekleham formed the Lindale Rifles. He wanted something else for the men to do besides get drunk and shoot dice on the creek bank. He was losing workers — sometimes for days due to fights — and was tired of refereeing domestic fights with wives at home. Of course, he was elected Captain of the Rifles, and would forever from that day on, be known as Captain Miekleham. He drilled them hard, turning them into a crack outfit. As modern day minutemen they loved the role and status that went with the title of a Lindale rifleman.

In a short four years, Capt. Miekleham had Lindale turning out one seventh of all cotton goods manufactured in Georgia. Rome newspapers were reporting 55 million yards for 1904, with a weekly payroll of 5,000 dollars.

Captain made sure there was a pasture and barn for your cow, a pen for your hog, a garden spot if you wanted one, chickens were everywhere. A school was established, and the mill was now at 1,400 employees.

Everything was not perfect, however. In 1912 his wife divorced him, and eventually re-married an Army officer, but the Lindale Rifles were summoned and attended the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson.

Anchor Duck was now in operation, and other mills were looking to Lindale as an example.