Let There Be Light Mary Leila Cotton Mill 1899
by Reid Callaway
Title
Let There Be Light Mary Leila Cotton Mill 1899
Artist
Reid Callaway
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
In 1786 an act of the state legislature set aside the western lands of Washington County to create Greene County and its seat, Greenesborough (later Greenesboro, then Greensboro), which was incorporated in 1803. Taking its name from Nathanael Greene, a general in the Revolutionary War (1775-83), Greensboro served as the commercial center of one of Georgia's most important cotton-producing counties. The city's history illustrates the struggle, common to many small towns in the rural South, to emerge from the shadow of a cash-crop monoculture.
The phenomenal rise of the cotton economy facilitated the growth of Greensboro as the commercial center of Greene County. Fifty years after it’s founding, Greene became Georgia's largest cotton-producing county. In 1838, responding to the need to transport the region's ever-growing crop, the Georgia Railroad reached Greensboro, cementing the city's status as the county's commercial center. By 1854 the town had its own cotton mill, the Greenesboro Manufacturing Company. The merchant class that profited from this commerce became the town's elite.
The Mary-Leila Cotton Mill opened in Greensboro in 1899. It was the first industrial factory to arrive in Greene County, as the community attempted to diversify its cotton-based economy. World War II (1941-45) proved a boon to the cotton mill, though it would achieve a certain amount of adverse notoriety when its workers went on strike for higher wages in 1941.
Located between the Ogeechee and Oconee rivers in Georgia's formerly rich cotton belt, Greensboro lies at the heart of Greene County, halfway between Atlanta and Augusta. The Creek Indians prized this region for its abundant game. The Georgia legislature created the county in hopes of attracting white settlers to the region and dislodging the Creeks. Although the state attempted to maintain a facade of legality in taking Indian lands, tensions ran high between white newcomers and Native Americans. In 1787 Indians attacked Greensboro, burning homes and killing residents. Despite these and other difficulties of frontier life, Greensboro and Greene County grew rapidly.
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June 19th, 2015
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