Cannon Mills and Kannapolis: Persistent Paternalism in a Textile Town

2. The Founding of Kannapolis: Expansion and Paternalism

Chapter 2 The Founding of Kannapolis: Expansion and Paternalism To facilitate expansion of his towel manufacturing, James Cannon sent Concord real estate agent John K. Patterson to Glass, North Carolina, to purchase six hundred acres of land. Glass was a small community north of Concord along the Southern Railway line that consisted of a general store owned by John Peter Triece, a post office, and a rail depot. Patterson secured options on only three hundred acres in the vicinity of Glass, so he traveled farther north along the unpaved Salisbury Road and obtained options on twelve hundred acres in Cabarrus and Rowan counties. In 1905 and 1906, Cannon exercised his options and purchased 1,009 one-sixth acres at an average price of $26.22 per acre.1 According to a newspaper report, the first load of lumber—twelve hundred feet—was delivered November 20, 1906, by a mule named Trim and her mate, owned by W. E. Bostian. The mule team hauled lumber over a dirt road between China Grove and the construction site, a journey that took over an hour, delivering it to the first three carpenters on site: Walter Dayvault, Mr. Simpson, and Mr. Noval. Captain Price supervised the carpenters . Later, other carpenters came to work in the growing mill village.2 A year later, James Cannon began construction on two new facilities, a second Cannon Manufacturing Company mill and another bleachery and finishing plant.3 The firm invested $1.5 million in the facilities, which produced both huck and terry towels. Both plants used electricity provided by the Southern Power Company.4 16 @ The Founding of Kannapolis The early name of the new mill village was Cannapolis (meaning “Cannon Town”), paralleling Cannonville, the name of the mill village in Concord.5 The spelling of the name changed in 1907 when James Cannon referred to the village as Kannapolis in a letter to the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners. In a request to the board to pave the road between Concord and the new mill village, Cannon stated, “It is no doubt known to each one of you that we are now erecting two (2) large mills at a point seven miles from corporate limits, at a place on the main road from here to Salisbury which has been christened Kannapolis.”6 Besides the plants, Cannon also constructed housing for the operatives as well as the infrastructure of Kannapolis. Eventually, Kannapolis became the nation’s largest unincorporated town, a distinction it retained until 1984. James Cannon was intimately involved in the details of building the new town.7 The mill owner was also concerned with the uplift and reform of the residents of Kannapolis, including the children of the mill village. While progressives sought to tighten child labor laws and provide an opportunity for the education of all children, James Cannon linked the education of mill children to his idea of paternalism. As in Cannonville, young children could work with their parents’ consent or attend school. Many mill families needed the wages of their children to make ends meet, but as child labor laws slowly tightened, more children attended school. By providing schools, by being concerned about the education and moral development of the children living in their mill villages, mill owners fit the mold of the businessman progressive. Yet many mill owners had other reasons for providing schools. Mill schools were designed to prepare the next generation of mill workers by instilling “industrial discipline” as well as “punctuality, regularity of attendance, reliability , and respect for authority.” Some overseers went to the school when extra labor was needed in the mill. Thus schools reformed the habits of the children of poorly educated parents, served as a labor pool when necessary, and kept children out of trouble when they were too young to work or not needed in the mills.8 Cannon offered land to the Cabarrus County school board in 1907 to build a school. He gave two thousand dollars for its construction and loaned the county the balance of the twenty-five hundred dollars needed for its completion. The new five-room school, McIver School, was on South Main Street. Because of the growth of the community, Cannon built a second school, Woodrow Wilson School, a decade later.9 The schools of Kannapolis were among the better mills schools in the state. Offering grades one through The Founding of Kannapolis ^ 17 eleven, the Kannapolis...