fabric of history

February snow

2010-02-07T11:20:00.000-05:00

Woolen Mills Chapel

City crews remove broken trees limbs from Woolen Mills Road

Virginia Power lineman in the park works to restore power.

City crews accomplish the temporary repair of a broken water line on Chesapeake

recognition?

2009-12-17T09:50:00.005-05:00

The Virginia Board of Historic Resources and the State Review Board convene today to consider new nominations to the Virginia Landmarks Register. The Woolen Mills Village is on the list for consideration.
Preserving the memory, stories and architectural fabric of the Woolen Mills has been the work of many of our neighbors past and present.
Particular thanks at this moment go out to Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris for his support of this project, to Mary Joy Scala, Preservation and Design Planner, and to Lydia Brandt, architectural historian, for her authorship of the nomination.

The map and nomination for this proposed National Register Historic District are available at Virginia Department of Historic Resources website.

rare executive ability

2009-09-26T22:14:00.001-04:00

The board went, in fact, as far as New York City and hired Duryea Van Wagenen. Van Wagenen had been recommended to the board by mill owners at Danville, Virginia, despite the fact that he had had no experience with woolen mills. His chief qualifications were his "rare executive ability" and a reputation for "handling big affairs." Van Wagenen, it appears, had been connected with the National City Bank of New York. He also seems to have held an administrative post in at least one Southern textile mill. But these facts are not clear.
--Harry Poindexter

a strong executive officer

2009-09-22T23:46:00.002-04:00

Pireus Row from Moore's Creek

The group discovered that "this condition of affairs has worked serious injury to the mill." They feared worse troubles would develop if the situation were not altered. Friction between Valentine and Marchant had existed from the first, the committee reported, and the trouble was caused by petty jealousy. The upshot of the investigation was the resignation of Valentine in November, 1917, although he was not censured in the report.

Shortly afterward, the board took two steps which finally brought in a strong executive officer and materially altered the nature of the management. First, the offices of president and general manager, so long held by Henry Marchant were separated. The presidency was shorn of all real power and the "entire charge of the affairs of the Mill and its employees" was placed in the hands of the general manager, subject of course to the desires of the board. Second, the company for the first time went outside its ranks to get its chief executive officer.--Harry Poindexter

the gauntlet was down

2009-09-21T23:47:00.001-04:00

Courtesy of the Elizabeth Valentine Meade Collection

Personal antagonisms within the management continued until 1918 to add to the miseries of the mill. It was the old story of divided authority and a natural jockeying for position. Valentine, as president and general manager, was supposed to oversee general policy and carry out the directors' wishes. Hampton Merchant, however, continued to exercise complete control over manufacturing processes. Both, according to the bookkeeper, interfered in office work unnecessarily.

In the summer of 1910, the quarrel burst into the open when H. D. Jarman, the bookkeeper, complained to the board of alleged interference in his work by Valentine and Marchant. The president answered with a stinging rebuke and the gauntlet was down. Unable to overlook the matter any longer, the board appointed a committee to investigate.--Harry Poindexter

uncertainties and problems

2009-09-20T13:52:00.003-04:00

photo courtesy the Taylor Collection. Pantops background, 313 Steephill Street and Woolen Mills Road foreground

A glance at the rising volume of sales enjoyed by the Charlottesville Woolen Mills during the war years will not reveal the uncertainties and problems which hovered over the management. The company had disposed of $274,000 in manufactured cloth in 1914. Swelling steadily, sales brought in nearly $450,000 in 1917 and over $588,000 the next year. But rising costs ate heavily into this income. Profits in 1914 had totaled $53,000. In 1917, with sales nearly twice as great, the figure stood at only $39,000; and two more years passed before net earnings exceeded those of pre-war years. Nevertheless, comfortable dividends of twelve to fourteen percent were mailed annually to stockholders. These served to soothe the irritations of war-time restrictions.--Harry Poindexter

government seizure

2009-09-17T23:19:00.002-04:00

Advertisement in the 1943 VMI Bomb

Military schools, absorbing about two-thirds of the cloth produced, provided the basic prop upon which the mill rested. Only one crisis of sizeable proportions occurred during the war years regarding this market. That resulted from the government's seizure of the wool supply shortly after school contracts had been signed early in 1918. The sudden spurt in wool prices threatened for a time to wipe out profit margins. But in spite of this and the wage increases of that year, the company managed to fill its orders and earn a substantial profit.--Harry Poindexter

no order was forthcoming

2009-09-16T22:26:00.002-04:00

When the United States went to war in 1917 the Charlottesville company attempted to shift at least part of its production to war contracts. Negotiations with the Navy Department were carried on in 1918 at Washington and New York, but no order was forthcoming. Despite its wide experience in uniform cloth making the mill was never able to secure a government contract for war work.
As a result, the plant was forced to stick to the manufacture of uniforms for schools, railroads, and municipal civil servants. Faced with unsettled business conditions , an unpredictable wool supply, and rising wages, the management felt that it would be content if it could retain its workers, keep the mill runnlng, and earn enough to pay expenses. Fortunately, supplies were somehow obtained to fill orders with reasonable promptness. Except for a few schools which delayed buying uniforms in the hope that the government would furnish them, the mill kept a firm hold on its market and added some new customers.--Harry Poindexter

influenza

2009-07-02T00:15:00.000-04:00

Equally as pressing as wage increases was the severe curtailment of production during 1918. Nine valuable days were lost during February and March as a result of the federal Fuel Administrator's order. But these were nothing when set against the effects of the influenza epidemic which swept through the eastern United States in the fall of 1918.

As Charlottesville fell under its deadly grip, schools were closed, large gatherings of people ceased, and many businesses were crippled by sickness. At the Woolen Mills, the disease "worked havoc": sometimes half the workers were ill. When the attack had subsided, it was found that the equivalent of twenty-three days had been lost. All told, the mill was in effect closed down for five and a half weeks during 1918. --Harry Poindexter

war bonuses

2009-07-01T00:05:00.000-04:00

Wages also rose to new heights. Between 1914 and 1916, the company spent about $52,000 annually for "hand labor." Pay raises became necessary following the entry of the United States into the war. In May, 1917, the first wedge was opened when the board granted an increase of ten cents per day for each extra day worked to all employees who had reached "standard pay." In November, a ten percent raise was extended to all workers. During 1918, with three successive wage boosts totaling thirty percent, the cost of labor skyrocketed to $77,000?fifty-four percent higher than 1915. None of the raises had been formally requested by the employees. The management classified them as war bonuses and probably considered then temporary.--Harry Poindexter

wool costs were especially alarming

2009-06-30T01:10:00.000-04:00

The Charlottesville Woolen Mills weathered the war years well, but not before experiencing some discomfort from these conditions and several peculiar to itself. The cost and supply of wool and dyes were constant worries. Wool costs were especially alarming. The company had paid out only $149,000 for that purpose in 1914. Two years later it spent $192,000; in 1918 raw wool cost the mill over $400,000.--Harry Poindexter

wartime restrictions

2009-06-29T00:15:00.001-04:00

Amiss House, Woolen Mills Road

The result of these maneuvers was that the War Department "virtually annexed the business of fabricating the wool." Yet as late as the spring of 1918 only forty-five percent of American woolen mills were making cloth for war use. The remainder, after exhausting their private stocks, had to depend on uncertain allocations for civilian consumption.

Harassed mill owners could get some satisfaction from the brisk civilian demand for cloth and from the opening of South American markets previously supplied from Europe. But, despite the high price tags on consumer goods, profit margins fell before the onslaught of wool costs, wage increases, the scarcity of vital chemicals, and such wartime restrictions as the?by the Fuel Administrator in January, 1918.--Harry Poindexter

wool prices climb

2009-06-26T00:22:00.003-04:00

With the entry of the United States into the war in April, 1917, the problem of raw materials became grave for American mills. Speculative buying quickly caused raw wool prices to climb sixty-five percent. To curb inflationary rises, the government bought a large quantity of wool during the summer of 1917 which it threatened to dump on the market if prices went too high. In the fall, the government purchased 233 million pounds from England and shortly afterwards placed all wool imports under a licensing system.

The heaviest blow fell in April, 1918. Early in that month, the War Department ordered all woolen mills to hold their looms at the service of the government and blocked the flow of raw wool to civilian cloth makers except by special permits. A few days later the wool growers' association, faced with the threat of seizure, agreed to sell to the government all raw wool at prices current on July 1, 1917. Nevertheless, wool prices had jumped to double or treble their pre-war level, and fabrics rose in price nearly two hundred percent.--Harry Poindexter

the spectre of a wool famine

2009-06-25T10:40:00.003-04:00

With the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914 American woolen manufacturers suddenly faced "the spectre of a wool famine." Sixty-five percent of the industry's raw wool in normal times was imported, most of it coming through British channels from Australia and other British overseas possessions. Great Britain, however, quickly placed strict controls on this flow in 1914 and at times diverted all of it to her own use. At the same time, other war materials clogged up shipping facilities which had previously transported wool and dyes to American shores. Fluctuating high prices and uncertainty of supply, twin offspring of this sudden turn, brought many headaches to mill owners.-- Harry Poindexter

Monticello Mountain Motel 1958

2009-05-22T09:59:00.002-04:00

Does anyone know the location proposed for the Fuller Monticello Motel?

Arbor Day

2009-04-25T16:01:00.002-04:00

10:00 a.m. April 24, Riverview Park-- Parks and Recreation Director Brian Daly officiates at the planting of the City of Charlottesville's Arbor Day Tree. A requirement of being a "Tree City" is planting a tree on Arbor Day. Ten trees were planted.

president's house

2009-04-12T23:12:00.001-04:00

courtesy of the Elizabeth Valentine Meade Collection

Woolen Mills Road Walking Tour

2009-04-06T12:25:00.003-04:00

The Woolen Mills walking tour was well attended. Thanks to the members of the larger Central Virginia community who took the time to walk our built environment, at the foot of a mountain, in a bend of the river.
Please visit again.
If the history was hard to hear, a partial recap can be found on the Woolen Mills Road website.
For more on Th. Jefferson's sheep
Preservation Week activities continue

Woolen Mills Road Walking Tour

2009-04-02T00:02:00.000-04:00

Pictured above, home of Woolen Mills carding supervisor, Warren S. Graves
Join Victoria Dunham and Bill Emory for a walking tour of the Woolen Mills, 12-1pm, Sunday April 5. Meet at the Woolen Mills Chapel, 1819 E Market Street.
Tour is part of "Preservation Week 2009"

171

2009-04-01T00:10:00.000-04:00

Henry Clay Marchant, b. April 1, 1838, d. October 11, 1910

In the 1870s. Clay Marchant's vision for the social structure of the Woolen Mills Village began to take shape. That vision employed a two-pronged approach combining humanitarianism and practicality. His company started providing housing for his employees as well as for management. Mill records show him purchasing food and fuel by the boxcar and selling it to his employees at cost. A primitive form of health insurance was set into place. And in a gesture that was quite unusual, even in the present day, Marchant chose to live among his workers, in a house that was eventually owned by the mill itself.

In an 1881 company report, Marchant made a telling statement regarding his attitude towards his workers?a statement that would set the tone for the mill village for decades to come:

"The property of a manufacturing company must ultimately rest on the efficiency and fidelity of its labor. It must be impaired by whatever impairs the comfort and morale of its operatives. It must be promoted by whatever promotes their self respect, elevates their character, and cultivates local attachments and the home feeling. Nor is it easy to estimate the pecuniary advantages of such a liberal policy as shall strengthen our hold on the entire body of employees, and more particularly on those whose value is apt to bring tempting offers from abroad."

Personal ethics formed the central core of Marchant's life and informed his company's policies as well. Prospective employees were assessed to ensure that they were "of good character." The people holding management positions had to exhibit exemplary character in addition to possessing the required strong work skills and leadership abilities. As a result, Woolen Mills employees developed a reputation in the greater Charlottesville community for responsibility and honesty, a fact that aided them when applying for credit from banks and store owners.

southern initiative and southern capital

2009-02-08T09:06:00.002-05:00

Grover Maddex's house is for sale, 1613 Woolen Mills Road

In its own small way, the Charlottesville Woolen Mills helps to prove the fallacy of Mitchell's thesis. Ante-bellum in origin, it was revived in 1865 by Southern initiative and Southern capital. A period of notable prosperity preceded 1880 and the foundations had been already firmly laid. When the mill expanded suddenly in 1882 and absorbed Northern capital, it was purely the result of an accidental fire. Except for that event, the company would probably have waited many years to launch out on a program of expansion. Just as in 1865, destruction proved in the end to be an incentive for successful growth and innovations. --Harry Poindexter

New South?

2009-02-04T21:21:00.001-05:00

Mitchell's concepts have been attacked on two fronts. Avery Craven, for example, has shown that Southern industrial interest dated at least to the 1850's and was primarily a reaction to Northern anti-slavery crusades. On the other hand, C. Vann Woodward denies the validity of placing any rigid date on the growth of Southern industry and maintains that no revolution occurred. The expansion of business which characterized the New South made little change in its proportion of the nation's manufactured goods. In 1913 as in 1860 the South had a colonial economy, subservient to Northern investments and transportation and producing mainly items whose final value was due mostly to processes performed outside the South.--Harry Poindexter

Senate Bill 957

2009-01-23T08:43:00.005-05:00

This site is full of references to the Rivanna. The Rivanna River was the center of life for the Woolen Mills Village. For the millenium previous the river had been the center of life for the People of Virginia.

For thousands of years the Monacans were widely dispersed over all of Piedmont and Mountain areas of Virginia. Towards the Late Woodland era, ca. AD 900 - 1700, a pretty strong emphasis of villages on the major rivers for access to transportation and trade and good agricultural soils. From the South Fork Dam east along the Rivanna there is abundant evidence of Monacan villages, as any local farmer or housing developer can tell you, all the way to juncture with the James. --J.L.Hantman

The Virginia legislature is considering the bill above (Senate Bill number 957) which would extend the "scenic river designation" to the Rivanna from the site of the Woolen Mills dam upstream.

Since it annexation of the the right bank of the River in 1963 the City of Charlottesville has taken slight advantage of this asset. Possibly, with state recognition, the City will take another look at this jewel at its feet.

blessing in disguise

2008-12-29T11:19:00.001-05:00

Riverview Cemetery

The fire of 1882 was a blessing in disguise. It enabled the company to install new, efficient machinery and to expand its facilities. The fire also opened the door to new sources of capital, and the mill received its share of the Northern money which flowed into the New South after Reconstruction and the revival of prosperity. But it is only by coincidence that the date of this development fits into old conceptions about the origins of the New South.

The nature and causes of Southern industrial growth after the War of Secession have been matters of dispute among historians. The traditional view, fostered by such apostles of the New South as journalist Henry Grady, was popularized by Broadus Mitchell. According to Mr. Mitchell, Southern industry prior to 1880 was practically in the Middle Ages. In that year a sudden industrial revolution seized the South. Northern funds, combining with a burst of sectional interest, brought the region within a few decades to an industrial Renaissance. --Harry Poindexter

a sense of duty

2008-12-07T10:34:00.002-05:00

Lynchburg Coke and Staunton Coke c. 1900; Virginia Coke, November 16, 1915; Cordele, Georgia Coke, c. 1900, Blue Charlottesville Coke, patent November 16, 1915; Staunton Coke c. 1900; background, Burnett Cocaine bottle c. 1900-- bottles courtesy the Carr Collection

In their concern for adequate living quarters, encouragement of educational and religious activities, and insistence upon high moral standards, the woolen mill owners reflected a prevailing attitude of Southern businessmen in the New South. A sense of duty and responsibility in providing the proper environment for the molding of character was the underlying concept. It was well expressed by the president of the Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia in 1911:

The supreme obligation of Southern patriotism in business endeavor is the duty of improving our best asset--the Southern people. The richest resource we have is our youth. In their veins runs the blood of the best American stock. They should have a fair chance to make the most and the best of themselves, and the first care of our successful men of business should be to see that they have that chance.

Unlike the welfare capitalism of the 1920 's, that exercised by the Charlottesville Woolen Mills was primarily interested in the moral fibre of the village community. Whether the workers were contented with it is impossible to say. The absence of labor disturbances seems to indicate that they were. --Harry Poindexter