OLE MILLer's Traditional Cache
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Article – Lexington Chronicle by Jerry Bellune
“Lexington mill spans century” Lexington’s old
cotton mill was built before the turn of the century. Sources vary,
one that the mill was completed in 1891, another that it opened
operations in 1893. The mill was built by the local Roof family
with financial backing from G.E. Huggins, a New York businessman
and the new venture’s first president. Huggins was elected
president of the new mill, incorporated as Lexington manufacturing
Co., according to one source, in 1894 with $100,000 in capital. The
mill manufactured cotton for mattresses and red cotton cloth for
uniforms for the California prison system and other products. In
the tradition of those times, the mill’s owners built homes
to attract textile workers. Many of the homes on the East Main
Street mill hill still stand today, some used for businesses,
others still used as residences. The mill opened as a
state-of-the-art facility in those days with its own power
generation from the mill pond, Boiler system for heating and
moisturizing the cotton, a private railroad spur, its own fire
control sprinkler system powered by an auto engine and other
amenities. Rent ranged from $11 to $20 a month and was deducted
from the workers’ pay. Electricity was provided to workers at
$2 to $3 a month. Perhaps to remind local merchants of the value of
the mill and its employees, the owners paid the workers in silver
dollars. Their bags of coins was a common sight in
Lexington’s one-block retail area. After the stock market
crash in 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression, the owners
closed the mill until 1934. Over the years, the mill went through a
series of transitions, finally becoming a retail shopping center
with its sale to local businessmen in 1983. . This cache is a key
holder
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(Decrypt)
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