A Brief History of Where You Call Home

The city of Aragon became a city because the Aragon Mill was built in 1898 by Wolcott and Campbell of New York Mills. The City of Aragon was founded in 1899, and was literally built around the mill. It was then, and still is known, as “the village”. In 1900, the mill was purchased by A. D. Juilliard Co., Inc., which made many additions over the years. A one-story section was built in 1900 that housed six pairs of spinning mules. In 1904, the second floor over the mule spinning was built and 56 duck C&K looms were added, while the mule spinners were removed and twisters installed. On July 23, 1914, the City was incorporated, and last year Aragon celebrated a Centennial, 1914-2014.

In 1939, a shop addition was built. In 1940, the spinning room was added and the 60-inch Draper addition was built, also drapery looms were moved from both New York Mills and Brookford. In the 1930’s, it became a United Merchants Mill. The plant continued operation until shutting down in 1970. In 1972 Integrated Products bought the plant and operated it until 1989. At that time, the plant was acquired in a leveraged buyout by David Bridges but retained its name. The plant closed its doors on March 31, 1990. In October of 1990, Diamond Rug and Carpet, a Dalton Company, purchased the plant and operated it until 1994. The plant remained empty until

1998 when brothers Brian and Kirk Spears purchased the mill and used it in the production of pillows and wooden pallets until August 6, 2002, when fire completely decimated the complex. In the early 1970’s, Si Kahn, an activist and celebrated musician in bluegrass and folk music circles, wrote a song lamenting the loss of mill village culture titled, “The Aragon Mill.” In early 2012, I made contact with Si, and we visited several times by phone and email. He sent me an autographed copy of the song, which hangs in the City Council meeting room. In 2013 he released an Album titled “Aragon Mill: The Bluegrass Sessions,: with the City Seal on its cover. There was another song written about Aragon titled the “Aragon Café,” written by Mike Rogers of Aragon. Mike gave me the original, handwritten lyrics he wrote on the back of a music venue program. There was no music written, so, I asked a local musician, Rex Garner, to put it to music. The music, along with the original handwritten lyrics, now hangs in the City Council meeting room. In 2012, we adopted, for the first time a City motto: “A Proud Past And A Promising Future”. In addition, we also approved the City’s first seal and the City flag.