History

Beginnings
The First Mill Houses
Early Mill House Style
Mill House Styles
Construction of Mill No. 2
Immigration and Population
The Mill Village
Village Infrastructure
Women
Mill Complex in the 20's and 30's
A Visual History of the Mill Village (slideshow)
Mooresville's Textile Heritage Slideshow (Statesville Landmark Website)

Mooresville residents know that Mooresville built its prosperity on textile mills. But few who drive by the unassuming brick building on North Church Street (behind the Citizens' Center) know that Mooresville's textile history began there.

The original Mooresville Cotton Mill on North Church Street, now known as Mooresville Executive Offices

The earliest records found regarding the Mooresville Cotton Mills point to 1893 as the year that operations began. The Mooresville Cotton Mills became the source of growth and prosperity for the young town of Mooresville. The mill supplied housing for its workers by constructing mill houses within walking distance of the worksite.

Dwarfing its Own Memory

The mill became an incredibly successful venture--so successful that in less than 7 years the N. Church Street building no longer provided enough space for the volume of production demanded of it. By 1900, work had begun on a second mill that would all but erase from memory the origins of the textile heritage of Mooresville at N. Church Street. The new site, which would be called Mill No. 2, would quickly explode into the epicenter of mill activity, with a sprawling mill village encircling it. The construction of Mill No. 2 and its mill village were destined to transform Mooresville's identity from a cotton depot town to a booming textile mill town.

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Mooresville Mill Village Initiative
last updated April 4, 2008