'Of Noble Worth': Exploring A Century Of Work At A Mill Scheduled To Go Silent

In October, ITG Group announced that Cone Denim's White Oak facility in Greensboro would cease production. For the roughly 200 workers facing layoffs there, it means a lot of uncertainty for the future.  

But the closure also marks the end of an era after more than a century of continuous production. The mill has been a staple of the city's textile industry and a historical testament to the workers who helped bring the region to prominence.

WFDD's Sean Bueter spoke with Susan Webster at the Greensboro History Museum to find out more about what White Oak has meant to the city and the people who once worked there.

Interview Highlights

On how significant the facility's presence once was in Greensboro:

About 1925, White Oak was running 3,000 looms and 61,000 spindles and it was employing several thousand employees at the time. And these mills were not only offering work, but also community, with the neighborhoods or mill villages.

What does community look like when it's built around a factory?

Cone Mills, for example, built four mill villages around their mills and they rented the homes to workers and they were, I think, frame houses: three, four rooms. They had a lot around them and they paid rent. For the Cone villages, they received some fruit trees and some grape vines and, of course, were encouraged to keep the properties up and to do some gardening to help the family.

But they also then developed dairies and grocery stores and company stores. I don't think originally there was indoor plumbing or running water but all that came later. In fact, in 1992, White Oaks' mill village was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Did these mills really provide opportunity? Yes, although for some it was limited. 

If I can, I'll share this excerpt from Gladys Griffin who talked about her work at White Oak in 1937. She says:

'I was making $13.50 a week when I went to White Oak to work in 1937. I bought groceries, paid my trolley fares to and from work, sent $4.00 home a week for my daughter's keeping, and bought coal for my coal stove and oil for my oil heater. Then I paid rent on my one room apartment, and that came to about $13.50 a week.'

So I think that kind of is a common theme through the work.

On whether she was surprised at the news that White Oak was closing:

Well I was, only because I was, like a lot (of people) going 'you know it's great we have White Oak and they found a niche market...' And they were continuing to work on sustainable garments and denim from recycled materials and technology. And personally, I'm just hopeful that something will resurrect or come out of this or continue.

But it was a million square foot plant. Looms are loud, and you think about the silence that's going to be in the plant. Hopefully they'll figure out a way to keep some denim going.

During the course of the interview, Webster also presented a poem expressing the difficulty, dignity, and ultimately, pride in the work happening at White Oak. She sent along the text, which we've reprinted here:

Of Noble Worth: Mill Workers

Now, rural folks, I pray take heed,
Have a respect for those,
Who earn their bread by honest toil,
You know they make your clothes.

Your bleachings and your other clothes,
Your stockings and your frills,
Are made by people of noble worth
The products of the mills.

From “White Oak Mills” by I.J. Brittain, 1918