On January 19, 1900, the first meeting of the subscribers to
the stock of a new textile organization was held in Gaffney, South Carolina.
The new
organization was named Limestone Mills. The stockholders elected a complete board of
directors, and a directors' meeting was subsequently held in which the executive heads of
the corporation were chosen. Dr. Wylie C. Hamrick was elected Secretary and
Treasurer ( in these days, the Chief Operating Officer) and this was the beginning of the
original Hamrick group of mills. In following years, five other plants were either built or
bought, and the Hamrick group consisted of Limestone Mills, Hamrick Mills, Broad River
Mills, Alma Mills, Musgrove Mills, and Paola Mills.
The Hamrick group continued to operate, complete with
villages, until two of the plants, Limestone and Hamrick, were sold in 1947 to M.
Lowenstein, Inc., who changed the name to Limestone Manufacturing Co. Later, Broad
River mill was sold to Dodgeville Finishing Company, and Paola was phased out, reducing
the Hamrick interest to Alma and Musgrove Mills.
Following the concentration of holdings into a two-plant
operation, with a central office on West Buford Street, Hamrick interests have continually
made improvements at both the Hamrick Plant (the Alma Plant renamed) and the Musgrove
Plant.
These two modern, highly efficient plants, along with Hamrick Mills' sales
office in New York (formerly Wilson & Bradbury Co.) comprise Hamrick Mills, Inc.
Today Hamrick Mills, Inc. is under the ongoing management of
third and fourth generation members of Dr. Hamrick's family.
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