In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

C H A P T E R 6 Revitalizing Small Cities: A Comparative Case Study of Two Southern Mill Towns Kimberly Zeuli At the start of the twentieth century, the textile industry had started to shift its base from New England to the South; by the 1920s, North Carolina had become the center. At the peak of the industry in the United States, in the late 1940s, 9.3 percent of all textile jobs were located in North Carolina. Many of these jobs were in rural, small towns. Rural manufacturing was at the core of North Carolina’s economic development strategy in the twentieth century, and the textile industry has been one of the top two largest employers in rural and small towns since 1940 (Coclanis and Kyriakoudes 2007). By the early 1970s, at the peak in North Carolina, textile jobs accounted for 19.2 percent of the state’s employment. The textile industry began a rapid contraction in the United States and North Carolina in 1990. Between 1990 and 2011, the U.S. textile industry lost approximately 1.2 million jobs, 20 percent of them (243,200 jobs) in North Carolina (Bureau of Labor Statistics 2012). By 2011, textile employment in North Carolina had dropped to 1.2 percent of total employment. Our analysis compares Concord and Eden, two historic mill towns in North Carolina. They had equivalent social and economic positions during the 1970s, at the peak of the textile industry in North Carolina, including a similar level of economic dependence on the textile industry (Table 6.1). Concord and Eden also housed textile mills that eventually became part of the Pillowtex Company. Both communities experienced the loss of their textile base as the industry declined, as well as the closing of local Pillowtex plants in July 2003 when the company went bankrupt. The impact of the 106 Kimberly Zeuli declining manufacturing industry on national and regional economies has been studied extensively, with special attention given to the Midwest and northeastern parts of the country. The specific case of the textile industry in the South has received far less attention, yet its significance to the region and the distinctive features of a manufacturing industry sited across small towns, versus within a city, afford unique insights into community redevelopment. Few studies have focused on redevelopment and economic revitalization in the context of small cities and towns, which may reveal findings different from those gleaned from analyzing larger manufacturing-dependent cities. The unique attributes of the textile industry in North Carolina provide us with an opportunity to conduct a comparative study of small city redevelopment . We analyze the redevelopment paths of two similar communities in North Carolina struggling with the same forces of economic transformation—the general contraction of textile manufacturing in the state and the specific closing of local textile plants. Using a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods, we consider each community’s capacity to respond to these events and its economic revitalization to date. Our qualitative research included interviews and site visits to both communities in early 2012. We interviewed city and county government officials , as well as current and former textile mill employees. Redevelopment and Revitalization Capacity The capacity of a community to recover from negative economic events, and perhaps even reinvent itself, may be determined by various social and ecoTable 6.1. Concord and Eden in 1970 Concord Eden Total population 18,464 15,871 Land area in square miles 6.9 11.7 Percent persons age 25 or over, 4 years high school or more 35.5 34.1 Percent unemployed 2.6 2.8 Percent below poverty level 16.9 12.3 Real median household income 32,266 41,296 Real per capita income 17,102 15,292 U.S. Census Bureau, Decennial Census Tables (1970). 3.15.151.214] Project MUSE (2024-04-24 13:11 GMT) Revitalizing Small Cities: Two Southern Mill Towns 107 nomic factors. We attempt to identify these variables more precisely by drawing on recent studies of community resiliency, defined as the ability of a community to return to its prior growth path after experiencing an economic “shock.” Recent studies on community resiliency identify and test a number of indicators that, in theory, make some communities more likely than others to recover from negative events (Cutter, Burton, and Emrich 2010; Foster 2012; Hill, St. Clair, Wial et al. 2012; Sherrieb, Norris, and Galea 2010). They include a mix of economic and sociodemographic variables. To test Concord and Eden...

Share