INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Concord was an industrail town that at the time of the Civil War, Concord had fewer that 1,000 people. Its one facotery made everything from nails to cotton yarn to burlap bags, but it sledom made a profit. Concord shipped what it could by slow wagon to distant seaports. Concord looked just like every other industrial town i nthe state. ITs downtown was a cluster of brick buildings that housed stores, hotels, and churches. On the end of town lived African Americans, in a separate neighborhood. On the other end of town was the mill village, another new form of living in NC, where factory wokrers lived in houses rented form the factory owners. NC even built new towns during this period, HIgh Point had begun as a depot on the NC Railroad in 1854. It became key trading spots after the plank road from Salem to Fayetteville was completed. Burlington started out as a sidetrack called Company Shops, where the NC Ralroad had its repair yards. One effect of some ofthe development of new towns was to hurt the growth of older towns that were not as well connected to the railroads. Burlington, for example, soon overshadowed nearby Graham. Gastonia had stopped the growth of Dallas.
COTTON MILLS
The early cotton mills of NC were always full of young people. The mills built before the Civil War hired moslty young women, since young men could easily make more money working on a farm. Occasionally a young boy was hired at the facory. If he worked hard, the owners might train him to be a boss. The decline of farming after Reconstruction left young men with fewer opportunities. Thousands of young men came with their families to the factories in towns like Concord and Gastonia. By the 1890's, the majority of the cotton mill workers in the state were male. By 1900, child labor was used in just about every cotton mill in the state.
Concord was an industrail town that at the time of the Civil War, Concord had fewer that 1,000 people. Its one facotery made everything from nails to cotton yarn to burlap bags, but it sledom made a profit. Concord shipped what it could by slow wagon to distant seaports. Concord looked just like every other industrial town i nthe state. ITs downtown was a cluster of brick buildings that housed stores, hotels, and churches. On the end of town lived African Americans, in a separate neighborhood. On the other end of town was the mill village, another new form of living in NC, where factory wokrers lived in houses rented form the factory owners. NC even built new towns during this period, HIgh Point had begun as a depot on the NC Railroad in 1854. It became key trading spots after the plank road from Salem to Fayetteville was completed. Burlington started out as a sidetrack called Company Shops, where the NC Ralroad had its repair yards. One effect of some ofthe development of new towns was to hurt the growth of older towns that were not as well connected to the railroads. Burlington, for example, soon overshadowed nearby Graham. Gastonia had stopped the growth of Dallas.
COTTON MILLS
The early cotton mills of NC were always full of young people. The mills built before the Civil War hired moslty young women, since young men could easily make more money working on a farm. Occasionally a young boy was hired at the facory. If he worked hard, the owners might train him to be a boss. The decline of farming after Reconstruction left young men with fewer opportunities. Thousands of young men came with their families to the factories in towns like Concord and Gastonia. By the 1890's, the majority of the cotton mill workers in the state were male. By 1900, child labor was used in just about every cotton mill in the state.