The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, October 05, 1951, Image 2
'■ • • • • - : . ^ ~ r " ’
t-u
.
THE NEWBERRY SUN
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1951
/•'- u
Great Slides Noted
In Oakland’s History
Oakland Manager
The story of the “Open House”
program, and the opening of the
modernized and expanded Oakland
Mill would be incomplete with
out mention of the overseers of
the various departments of the
mill, and of other interesting
personnel of this large textile
plant.
In reviewing briefly the his
tory of the original mill, which
was built in 1911 on a 316 acre
t"-act located in the northern
suburbs of the City of dewber
ry, and an ideal place, with a
hill as the central point upon
which to erect a textile plant and
village.
The main building was four-
stories in height, 216 feet long
and 10 feet wide erected on the
'ill and nearby was the home
o? the late W. Y. Fair, from
whom Col. Walter H. Hunt,
president of the organization pur
chased the site.
'Hie capital stock of $400,000.00
was largely subscribed by local
^'^ple and so remained until the
retirement of Col. Hunt in 1925
when The Kendall Company
purchased the plant.
We find that many of the
men at the head of various de
partments have been with the
mill for more than 20 years and
have grown-up with this large
enterprise.
JONAS I. LONG
There is Jonas I. Long, a native
of Laurens County who came to
Oakland on December 26, 1927
as second hand in Carding and
has been overseer of that depart
ment since 1935.
Mr. Long is 52 years old and
has been working in textile
plants since 1912 in Greenville
and Ware Shoals. He said, “I
started when I was 13 years
old working at night and dur
ing the summer while attending
schools in Greenville and Ware
Shoals. I tried insurance for
seven months and worked with
the Railway Express Company for
one year—but the call of the
textile industry was so insistent
and I went back to the more
interesting work, which I liked
better.”
He married Miss Della Mostell-
er of Tunquitta, North Caro
lina and they have reared one
son and two daughters, all gradu
ates of the Newberry school, and
all married now. One daughter
graduated from Newberry Col
lege.
Mr. and Mrs. Long are active
members of Hunt Memorial Bap
tist Church and have many
friends in Newberry.
R. F. SPRATT
R. F. Spratt, overseer of the
Cloth Room, was born in Georgia,
the son of a grocer. He lived in
Gaston and Mecklinburg Counties
in North Carolina for 39 years
and came to Oakland on Septem
ber 12, twelve years ago from
Thrift Mill, a unit of The Kend
all Company, at Paw Creek. N.
C., w’here he was overseer of
the Cloth Room.
Mr. Spratt commenced work
at 17 years of age during sum
mer vacations and tried helping
his father in the grocery store,
but “did not like trying to please
so many people”—so took up his
life work in the textile industry
which he finds most interesting.
He married Miss Annie Carlene
Bigham In North Carolina. Their
two • daughters graduated from
Newberry High School. The old
est daughter is a graduate of
Newberry College. They are all
members of Lewis Memorial
Methodist Church at Oakland.
OLIVER B. CASEY
Oliver B. Casey, 41, a native
of Inman, Spartanburg County,
has been working in the textile
industry since he was 14 years
old. He worked during summer
vacations while attending the
schools in Inman and Wofford
College in Spartanburg.
He came to Oakland Mills in
1949 as overseer of Weaving,
prior to this he had been with
Kendall at their Mollohon Plant
in Newberry and at Newberry
Mills.
Mr. and Mrs. Casey (the former
Grace Turpin of Spartanburg
County) have one daughter, who
is a freshman at Winthrop Col
lege.
The Caseys are members of the
Methodist Church.
OLIN P. DAVENPORT
Olin P. Davenport, a native of
Newberry County, who was 53
years old on September 17, 1951,
moved to Oakland mill 39 years
ago with his parents Mr. and
Mrs. J. P. Davenport.
“When I was 14 years old, I
went to work learning the textile
trade. I quit school in the fourth
grade, but realizing the need of
more education, I attended night
schools at Oakland taught by Dr.
Jerry Wofford Came
To Oakland In 1912
The Pause That Refreshes
Will Put You In
Fine Fettle
For a Visit To Oakland’s
J9
ii
99
OPEN HOUSE
Next
Tuesday and Wednesday
YOU are Invited
Newberry Coca Cola Bottling Co.
D. O. Carpenter, Manager of Oakland Mill, has more than
20 v years of service. He was born in Gaston County on a
farm and came to Newberry from Thrift Mill at Paw Creek,
N. C., where he had been an overseer. In 1930 he was pro
moted to assistant manager of Oakland, and in 1935 he was
promoted to manager.
James C. Kinard, now president
of Newberry College, for several
years while he was a student
at Newberry College. Then I took
a correspondence course in tex
tiles and studied carding, spin
ning and plain weaving, which,
with the help and encouragement
of my wife, (the former Minnie
Williams of Saluda) I was en
abled to obtain my present po
sition as assistant overseer of
weaving.”
Mr. Davenport recalled that he
made 50 cents a day on a 60-hour
week schedule when he commenc
ed work at Oakland in 1913. “And
a few years later when South
Carolina legislature passed the
55-hour-week—but, we lost pay
for the five-hour reduction,” he
said.
Mr. Davenport recalled that
there were only four streets laid
off in the village when he first
came to Oakland; that the whole
village was sowed in cow-peas,
which were free for the picking!
“The old people in the village
died and the young ones re
mained here and all now own
their own homes and are happy
and contented here where the
standard of living is much dif
ferent from most mill villages,”
he added, “I bought a nice farm
in Utopia community of Newber
ry County arid made the money
to pay for it right here.”
He said he raised cows and
hogs and feedstuff for them and
food for himself and his wife and
an aged uncle, who lives with
them.
“You hear people say, *1 wish
the good old times would come
back,' but I do not want them
for the present is far better—and
the future I shall go ‘back to tjie
land’ and live in Utopia where we
hold our membership in New
Chapel Methodist Church.”
ROY H. ELAM
Roy H. Elam, Master Mechanic
and in charge of all mechanics
at Oakland, was born in Green
wood, 55 years ago, where he
atended school. After serving
during World War I, he attended
an electrical school and was an
electrician at Greenwood Mills
before coming to Newberry to
Kendall’s Oakland Mill in Feb
ruary 1928. In 1930 he was pro
moted from electrician to Master
Mechanic.
Mr. Elam and his two daughters
attend Central Methodist Church
in Newberry. Both of his daugh
ters are' married, are graduates
of Newberry College and the
youngest one is teaching.
HENRY C. BOUKNIGHT
Henry C. Bouknight, second
hand in the overhauling depart
ment, came to Newberry 58 years
ago from his father’s farm in
Lexington County, S. C. He
went to work at Newberry Mills
when 11 years old; later went
to Mollohon mill to work.
“I was born near Chapin, in
1883, and I never went to school
a day in my life—but did at
tend night school and with help
from my wife, learned to read and
write some—I give all the credit
to her for what I learned.”
Mr. and Mrs. Bouknight (the
(former Minnie Gonce of New
berry) have three sons—one of
them in the U. S. Marine Corps,
and one daughter and they are
all members of Lewis Memorial
Methodist Church in the village of
Oakland where they have lived
in the same house for the past
25 years.
Mr. Bouknight said, “I like
Oakland; I like the better times,
better organized work, and the
people, who get along with their
neighbors better, and the better
homes that The Kendall Compa
ny has "built.” -
JOHN ROBERT RAY
John Robert Ray, overseer \ of
Spinning at Oakland has been
with the local plant six years,—
coming from Spartanburg in
1945 after discharge from ser
vice at end of World War II.
He is the youngest man in the
overseer personnel, being 39
years old. He has-been working
in textile plants at Greenville
since he was 16 years old, work
ing at first during summer vaca
tions while attending schools in
Parker District, Greenville, and
in Pelzer where good textile
courses were offered.
Mr. Ray married Annette Jones
of Greenville County. They have
no children. He specialized in
Carding and spinning and is well
liked by the people of the village.
Mr. Ray has charge of the
local publicity for the big “open-
house” celebrating the opening of
the recently completed program
of renovating and enlarging of
Oakland Mill.
THOMAS N. PARKS
Thomas N. Parks, office mana
ger of Oakland Mill since Feb-
uary 1, 1927, was born in Cross
Hill and was reared in Newber
ry where he attended the high
school and Newberry College, and
has grown up with the mill and
watchd the growth of the village
from 75 houses for operatives to
the new village in 1927 and to the
present; the expansion of the
mill from 200 employees in 1927
to 650 of present, and from one
shift to three.
Mr. Parks has been office
manager of the Oakland Mill
his entire business life except
for a year when he was with
the treasury department of the
Federal government as collector
of Internal Revenue in Colum
bia, just prior to his becoming of
fice manager of Oakland Mills.
Mr. Parks married Miss Ethel
Williams of Jacksonville, Florida
and they have one son, Lt.
Howard N. Parks, who was in
Korea in the United States Army
and is presently at Fort Benning,
Georgia.
The Parks are members of the
First Baptist church of Newber
ry and are leaders in church and
community activities.
Momentous changes have over
taken the textile industry since
Oakland was organized. Besides
the “old timers” among the over
seers there are many employees
who have been on the job 20
years or longer who have witness
ed these changes.
R. J. SANDERS
Also, from North Carolina
came R. J. Sanders, of Kings
Mountain, a loom fixer. In 1912
when the mill was first in op
eration under the presidency of
Col. W. H. Hunt. He has been
at Oakland since the opening
of the mill except during his
On Tuesday, March 12, 1912
when Oakland Mill began opera
tion—when the first cotton was
iun through the card room—there
was present Jerry M. Wofford,
nn employee in the card room,
who had come to Newbery on
January 1, 1912 to help put in
the machinery in that department
of the new mill, organized by
Walter H: Hunt and associates.
With the “open house” cele
brating opening of the recently
enlarged and remodeled plant on
October 9-10, thirty-nine years
later—Jerry M. Wofford is still
at Oakland Mill and is still able
to work as a card section hand
—keeping machinery in the open
ing and picking room in repair.
Mr. Wofford left Oakland for
a few months in the fall of 1912
and worked at another mill, but
soon found Oakland was a bet
ter place and came back to stay.
A native of Spartanburg County
and a member of the well known
Wofford family—being a great-
great nephew of Benjamin Wof
ford, the founder of Wofford Col
lege in Spartanburg—Mr. Wofford
at an early age became interest
ed in textile machinery, and dur
ing vacation worked in the mills
of Spartanburg to learn the ma
chinist trade.
He said, “I started working
when I was eleven years old and
earned 40 cents per day on a
65-hour week basis—and I have
seen a lot of changes besides the
size of the mill in 1912 until
1926 when The Kendall Compa
ny bought the mill and in 1927 en
larged the village by building 55
new houses to accomodate the
additional workers when the new
two-shift operation was begun.
Mr. Wofford married Miss
Frances Snelgrove of Whitmire
and they reared two sons and one
daughter, who graduated at New
berry high school after attending
the Oakland elementary school.
He and his family are members
of the Hunt Memorial Baptist
church in Oakland village.
Mr. Wofcord wm be 73 years
old in February, 1962—'‘well past
the retirement age, I’m still able
to work here as a card section
hand.”
He continued, “I remember the
‘good old days,’ but I prefer the
modern methods with higher
wages, better living conditioms,
and the many advantages which
we in the textile Industry enjoy
today.” “All of these have grown
out of the progressive spirit first
shown at Oakland by Col. Hunt
and carried on by The Kendall
Company.”
As this colorful character “goes
down 4he sun-set trail” he is hap
py in having lived a full life and
even today, in his off time he
was busy selling a truck to two
pulpwood and lumber dealers,
while he was giving this inter
view.
WANT ADS
BATHTUBS—Just received ship
ment tubs, sinks, lavatories.
Noah’s Ark, Abbeville, S. C. 21-3tc
WANTED TO BUY—Iron, Metal
Batteries, Radiators and Rags.
W. H. Sterling, 1768 Vincent
street. Phone 731-W 28-th
a &
service in World War I from
1916-1921. Mr. Sanders married
Bessie Wofford, daughter of Jerry
M. Wofford and they have three
sons and three daughters, all mar
ried and “scattered over the
United States.”
Mr. Sanders said he started
to work in Gastonia Mills, Gas
tonia, N. C. when he was nine
years old. He said he had been
at home at Oakland most of his
life and like all the village “old
timers,” he owns his own home
and nothing could drive him
from Oakland.
|i?OOg MA, NO WAN OS "
K A FOOLWARPY ‘STUNT...
NEXT TIME AROUND
" NO TEETW IN FRONT*.'
The Membership
. Livingston-Wise Post
VETERANS OF
FOREIGN VARS
• \
Extends Best Wishes
To The
Kendall Company
And Its Employees
Upon The Completion Of
The New Oakland
' - i&Ha
V
' -
OR
LAND.'
Appreciation, Too!
♦ v
Newberrians well know what the Kendall
payroll means to this city. So, it is with a deep
sense of appreciation that we view the com
pletion of the expanded Oakland mill.
Many more families have been given em-
ployment at good wages, pleasant working
conditions and modern machinery to work
•^1
MS
with.
The pleasant association between the Ken
dall company and the people of Newberry is
further cemented in the building of the new
Oakland. H
Maxwell Bros. & Lindsay
Newberry
Whitmire