Did you know that the first denim in the South was produced right here in Durham? Although many people think of Greensboro as the “denim capital", it was Durham businessman William Erwin who first introduced denim into southern textile mills in 1894.
Above: Durham Hosiery Mill Band around 1918. Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Collection at the Durham County Library
Textile’s Early Ties to Tobacco
Before cigarettes were the main tobacco product, merchants sold loose tobacco in cotton pouches, sewn and stuffed by women and children in the home. In 1884 Julian Shakespeare Carr opened the Durham Cotton Manufacturing Company to produce the muslin tobacco bags locally. Six years later, the Dukes opened Erwin Mills for the same reason. Although Durham’s textile industry got its start in the service of tobacco, it soon became a business in its own right. In 1895 there were 360 looms producing muslin, chambray (used to make sheets), camlet, and denim. By 1905 there were more than 5,000 people working in textile mills in Durham, more than were working in tobacco at that time.
One story is that Erwin Mills was named for manager William Erwin (background image: pictured back row, second from left) rather than the Duke family so that the success or failure of the new venture would be Erwin's gain or loss. Pictured in the front row from the left are Benjamin N. Duke, patriarch Washington Duke, and James B. Duke.
Background photo courtesy of the Rubenstein Special Collections at Duke University.
Working in the Mills
Work in the mills was long, uncomfortable, and noisy. Darkened windows kept light from damaging the raw material. Workers experienced respiratory illnesses from inhaling dust and cotton by-products daily. Workers and residents heard the noise from the machines throughout the mill village.
Jobs were segregated by gender, race, and age. White men worked at carding cotton, African American men did manual labor. Women were in the weaving and sewing rooms. Children and women with small hands changed spools on the looms.
Background photo courtesy of John Schelp.
Mill owners and managers did not allow African American men and women to work inside the mills until 1903. At that time, Julian Carr was expanding and needed a larger labor force. He opened Durham Hosiery Mill No. 2, the city’s first to be staffed and managed by African Americans. Shortly after that, in 1911, John Merrick, C.C. Spaulding, and Aaron Moore opened the first mill owned by African Americans.
Background photo: Women working in the Durham Textile Mill, also known as the Durham Knitting Mill, which was opened, managed, and staffed by African Americans and located on the southwest corner of South Elm and Fayetteville Streets. Photo courtesy of the Rubenstein Special Collections at Duke University.
Timeline
1884: Durham Cotton Manufacturing Company opens, owned by J.S. Carr.
1892: Erwin Mills incorporates. B.N. Duke is president and William A. Erwin is manager. Production begins in Mill No. 1 in 1893.
1902: Durham Hosiery Mill No 2, the first mill managed and staffed by African American Durhamites, opens and stays in business for 28 years. In 1911 a black-owned and operated mill, Durham Textile Mill, opens.
Left: Postcards of successful Durham textile mills. Courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library.
Mill Village Life
Mill villages, such as West Durham and East Durham, provided workers housing that was owned and subsidized by the mill. At Erwin Mills, construction of the mill village started shortly after construction began on the factory. In 1895, 375 white families moved into the mill village known as West Durham. They paid 25 cents per week per room—that’s $6.94 in 2014 dollars.
Background photo: Durham Hosiery Mill baseball team around 1918. Teams were competitive, and mill workers were sometimes recruited based on their athletic abilities. Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library.
Homes were close to the street and had front porches for hot summer days and back yards for kitchen gardens. In 1922, the company built Erwin Auditorium, which had a gymnasium, pool, cafeteria, library, baby clinic, bowling alley, movies twice per week, night school classes, concerts, and lectures. Residents remember William Erwin riding around the village on his bicycle, checking in on the workers and their families.
Not all workers lived in the mill village. Workers who were not given a place in the mill village, including African American workers, occupied neighborhoods such as Brookstown, Hickstown, and Monkey Bottom.
Background photo: Erwin Auditorium and Community Center. Courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library.
Timeline
1912: Carr’s Durham Hosiery Mills, considered the largest in the world, employs 950 workers, most of them women and children.
1922: Erwin Auditorium and adjacent field and park open in West Durham.
1932: William A. Erwin dies. His textile empire spans eight mills throughout the South.
1937: All five local Erwin Mills are unionized.
Background Image: Woman posing at East Durham Cotton Mill swimming pool. Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library.
Labor and Unrest
One of the first instances of labor organizing in the mills was in August of 1900, when 191 Erwin Mill workers unionized and subsequently lost their jobs. In 1913 and 1916, workers went on strike at East Durham, Golden Belt, and Chatham Knitting Mills. Although many lost their jobs from these protests, both Carr and Erwin raised wages and reduced working hours not long after. Carr raised wages 7.5 percent. Erwin raised workers wages from 5 cents to 15 cents per day.
Background Photo: Looping department at the Durham Hosiery Mill in 1953. Photo courtesy of the North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library.
On Labor Day, September 3, 1934, a strike occurred that one West Durham resident described as the “worst strike there ever was.” Fifty-two hundred workers from Erwin Mills, Golden Belt, Durham Hosiery, and East Durham Cotton Mill went on strike along with laborers all over the South. Involvement from the federal government ultimately had the biggest impact on labor conditions in NC.
Background Image: Courtesy of Bob Ashley, Durham Herald-Sun
"“I can’t explain how this community came to be. It certainly was strong and breathed on its own. It was ever-changing, as life seems to be, and yet stayed the same. The entire area that I grew up in from 1952 – 1970 was truly a family community. The mill village of West Durham, NC, was glued together by the cotton mill. This was a time of commitment, from the family and the company."
-Quote from Holly Marlow Hall, in an interview with John Schelp.
Background Image: Aerial Photo of West Durham, circa 1930. Courtesy of North Carolina Collection, Durham County Library.
Timeline
1960: Erwin Mills is acquired by Burlington Industries.
1986: Erwin Mill No 1, on Ninth Street, closes.
Mid 1980s-Present: revitalization of Golden Belt, Erwin Mill No. 1, and Durham Hosiery Mill No. 1 buildings as retail and housing facilities.
Right: 1965 Erwin Mills denim advertisement. Courtesy of Burlington Industries.
Visit the Golden Belt Campus and the Erwin Mill Shops to see what these factories have turned into!
Durham A-Z: D is for Denim was on display at the Museum of Durham History in the Fall of 2014, and was curated by Katie Spencer Wright and Faye Morin.
This digital exhibit was created by Clay Harrison in 2023.