Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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AUGUST, 1899 Recently we took a little run over the new addition to the Clinton Cotton Mills. The walls are all completed, the roof is going on, and before the end of the next month, the new plant will be installed. Clinton will then have a 17,000 spindle mill, with looms to match. The night run will then be discontinued. About the same number of hands will be employed as are at the present. An addition is being made to the Machine Shops at the Clinton Mills, both for iron and woodwork. An engine will be put into run this and the dynamo for electric lighting. JULY, 1901 The standpipe at the Clinton Cotton Mills is a big success, and so is the artisian well. If our town people were wise, they would quickly profit by the fact. I^et the city fathers pay for the mains for fire protection, and give the mill the right to sell the water to private families, and the question of waterworks will be solved. JANUARY, 1902 Clinton is much pleased with the announcement that we are to have a new mill, of which Mr, C.M. Bailey is the promoter. Mr. Baiiey is a young man of education, being a graduate of Davidson College, of experience in mill business, having been at work in the office of the Clinton Mills for several years past, of pleasing appearance, and of inherited qualities that fit him peculiarly for this undertaking. The mill will be capitalised for $50,000 and will run 5,000 spindles. It will be built just outside the corporate limits of the town, on the line of the SpahoarH Airline It ic tKAimht ? ??- v> MIIV* *? IU MlVUglU that building operations will begin early in March. It is proposed also to double the size of the present mill, increasing from 17,000 to 30,000 spindles. The addition will be made to the west side of the building and will be as large as the whole is at present, a 1,000 horsepower engine is to be put in. Clinton will be a busy place this summer in mill building. A number of operatives houses ( are now in process of erection. MARCH, 1902 ( The new Cotton Mill is to be erected three quarters of a mile , beyond town limits. It will be a | suburb of Clinton, but will have ( a post office of its own, and will , be made a flag station of the Seaboard Airline. We suuuest that the town of Clinton open out | a direct road to this new j extension of the town, along the , line of the Railway, and on the , right-of-way of the railroad. The . sooner this is done, the better. ( APRIL, 1902 The Clinton Mill men have an : idea that it is the I xird that gives i us power to get wealth. When ] the Clinton Mills were started, 1 and in fact at every meeting of I the stockholders, prayer was < offered. When the engine made I its first turn, prayer was I offered. In five years time, not a i bone was broken in the service of that mill. When the 1,000 horsepower engine was put in the other day, prayer was again offered. When the Lydia Mills Company was organized, it was done with prayer. In fact, Clinton people do hardly anything without prayer. Is that the reason that Clinton enterprises so generally prosper? AUGUST, 1902 Brick are being made for the big weave rooms of the Clinton Cotton Mills and the brick laying will follow as soon as they are all made. This will double the capacity of the present mill, raising the spindles to 40,000 and its looms to 1,200, and putting this among the large mills. Additional land has been bought for the enlargement of the mill village and the erection of a large number of operatives cottages. The Lydia Mills will also soon be in running order. Mr. C.M. Bailey has done some very hard work and is getting his mill into good shape. The main building is completed and the machinery is going in rapidly. This will be a handsome little suburb of our city, being just outside the corporate limits. The building is one story and covers a good deal of ground. A number of operatives' houses have been built. OCTOBER, 1902 Very few even of our own citizens ever realise how rapidly our little town is putting on city airs, and how much progress it is making. A view from the Seminary steeple shows that it is progressing in every direction. The Lydia Mills is about ready to begin work, the machinery having all been put in. DECEMBER, 1902 The Lydia Mills were formally opened on the 26th of November. The Mills were set apart to their work with prayer. The Company itself was organized with prayer. It is a very pleasant thought that up to the date these prayers were consecrated. the mills have nnct (ho sacrifice of no human life. 1,000,000 yards of cloth ordered now; President Bailey showed me two letters from Northern commission houses, each ordering 500,000 yards of the cloth to be made by this mill. It will make a fine four-leaf twill converters' cloth, 54 by 64. These very large orders show, among other things, that enterprising commission men are even anxious to place their orders for the product of this very latest machinery. So the mill will spin the wheels around at once. with a waiting order large enough to keep its wheels and spindles going for months. Another interesting fact deserves mention also. Some cotton mill men from Maine and Massachusetts wrote a letter to their southern brethren relative to taking stock in this mill. A courteous invitation was given them to come and see for themselves. They came, they saw - were conquered! They "took stock," they increased this amount when they got back home, and took another look at their mills, and they wrote offering to lend President Bailey and his directors $5,000 for twelve months with interest, at the rate of nothing per calendar month. The mill has no indebtedness, is high grade in every respect, with nothing shoddy about it. A four hundred power Corliss compound engine assists President Bailey, in furnishing motor power and electric lights, automatic sprinklers, Sturtevvant heating and ventilating system. Brains, cash and energy add to these forces. The cnmnanv nu'ne thirtu o/?roc , j 'J MX-.W within the corporate limits and the houses for operatives contain four to six rooms. As fast as one is completed waiting operatives occupy it and the labor question here needs no solution. The work was done from start to finish by "Messrs. M.S. Bailey & Co." This firm includes almost the entire town. The majority of the stock is owned at Clinton. No stock would have been owned at Clinton or anywhere else if its promotors had not determined to build a mill with their own funds, should this be the only alternative. This mill is a splendid addition to South Carolina's cotton mill record, and I saw signs, thoroughly convincing to me, that this identical mill would add even to the present contribution, and this at no distant day. Mr. Mercer S. Bailey is president of the mill, Mr. W.J. Bailey is secretary and treasurer, and with these gentlemen are Messrs. R.Z. Wright, the Rev. W.P. Jacobs, P.S. Bailey, W.B. Owens, and R.L. Bailey, composing the board of directors. The business of Clinton have a reputation "on the road," that is equalled by few such aggregations. I frequently hear traveling salesmen remark that their houses "would gladly sell to business concerns in Clinton. This remark was made by those who knew. I quote it - "not meant for publication, but was guarantee of good faith." These workers have coupled ability with energy and results were certain. I am very much indebted to these gentlemen for such consideration as made my visit to Clinton very pleasant. Mercer S. Bailey, one of Clinton's leading citizens and businessmen, may well stand for a type here. He has accomplished much, and vou need to talk with him only a short while to find out the reason. Behind all of his achievements you see a motive. And now for just a little more. Mr. Bailey is a native of I>aurens, hence he is a good Carolinian. He went to Clinton about thirty years ago and commenced working at (5 per month. In 1867 he opened a store, and succeeded with a large success. In 1885 he organized his bank with this same success coming to him. Last year he began the work which resulted in the Clinton Cotton Mills, of which he is president, and success has so far stamped its impress upon every feature of the work. He has never made a failure in his business life and work. He has been a useful and honored citizen, and gave $600 to the fund for building the Presbyterian College of South Carolina. His children are like unto him. APRIL, 1903 Clinton, S.C. April 4 - In the whole state of South Carolina there is probably neither town nor city that has any brighter inausiriai prospect Detore it this year than Clinton. There is something Atlanta-like in its progress. A few years ago it was a dead country hamlet. Then came the Seaboard, a cotton mill, another mill, enlargements of the college and orphanage, mercantile improvements, the building of new residences and a real steady growth of population which was noteworthy. But this current year promises to surpass all other and indeed to be a genuinely phenomenal one. The first announcement was tc the effect that a new cotton mill, costing $350,000 and consisting of 20,000 spindles, would be built immediately. Then followed the authorized news that this mill would be so constructed as to admit of immediate enlargement to a 40,000 spindles capacity. As another mill valued at some $350,000 was already on the spot, this will carry the capital invested away over a million dollars in this one plant. Then came the news that the Lydia Mills would also add some $160,000 to its capital and enlarge. All of these improvements and enlargements are now actually underway. MAY, 1903 The new Mill, Clinton Mill No. 2, is to be a mammoth affair. Well, mammoth means "big" for several thousand mammoths could be comfortably housed in the new structure. It is to cover over a half acre, with temporary end wall for still larger growth. It will be four stories high and will be larger than Mill No. 1. Clinton Mill No. 1 has recently been enlarged by the purchase of five additional looms. That mill now runs 500 looms and 18,000 spindles. The stockholders of the Lydia Mills recently authorized the doubling of the plant, which is equivalent to the erection of another mill of the same size. The complete stock will be $160,000, including preferred stock. This suburb ought to be connected by direct highway, with the business section of town. JULY, 1903 Work has begun on the addition to the Lydia Mills. Clinton Mills No. 2 is moving ahead rapidly. SEPTEMBER, 1*3 The town of Clinton is rapidly becoming a city. The growth on every side is interesting - even remarkable. In its manufacturing establishments, the growth is great. Around Clinton Mills Nos. 1 and 2, there will soon be a population of over a thousand. At the Lydia Mills, on the east side of the town, that is, within easy walking distance, six or eight hundred souls are gathering. Banna Mills, at Goldville is reached by bicycle in 20 minutes from the Clinton town limits and has 2,000, right under the shadow of the Presbyterian College and the Thorn well Orphanage. A minister full of zeal and faith (and able to live on whatever, for a time at least, Presbytery can afford) is needed to take charge of this work. It is work among an intelligent and interesting class of textile operatives. It is such work as the Master would have delighted in doing. Who will undertake it? An immense amount of work is being done at the Clinton Mills No. 2. The building is not an annex to Mill No. 1, though built beside it, but is a complete mill in itself, and will duplicate Mill No. 1, while one end will be built of boards and so a prophecy of enlargement in the near future. About a million brick have alreaHv heen t in A great amount of work has been done at the Lydia Mills, towards the erection of the new extension, which, as is the case in the Clinton Mills, is greater than the original mill. The brickwork (3 stories) is completed and the roof is going on. A large number of operatives houses have been built. This mill will be in operation this winter. If we cannot get a road to the Lydia Mills, why not continue Centennial Street through to the present thoroughfare? Lydia Mills suburban village is getting to hp a hio thino anH ic arr\minn o T> ? ? M b1 wnu,6 bigger every day.