! ?>' Al ; '- : -V- J.
Phenlx Plant
Fifth Anniversary
Section
VOL. 62 NO. 8
Page Three
SECTION 2
Sixty-Second Tear
Kings Mountain. N. a, Friday. March 2, 1951
Established 1889
PRICE FIVE CENTS
pills Reads
tegan In 1923
Company Grew
From Lone Unit,
Now Employing
32^00 Persons
The history of Burlington Mills
Is art important chapter in the
rayon industry and a fascinat
ing story of planning, building,
new products which have added
to the comfort and well -being of
the American public. It is a bus
iness romance of men who recog
nized the possibilities of new
things from the yams of chemis
try in one ot the nation's oldest
ind u stries ? textiles.
In 1933 some local business
men in Burlington, North Caroli
na, joined J. Spencer Love, a
young World. War I veteran, in
.-building a small, cotton textile
mill employing about 200 per
sona. As a tribute to the commu
nity in which it was founded, the
Company was .named, ' Turling
ton Mills." The first plant man
ager was Mr. Love, who contin
ues as chief executive Of the or- j
- ganizatlon in which capacity he
hats served for the past 20 years.
Seeing the possibilities of ray
on in 1925, the management of
this new enterprise began ? pro
gram of expansion in order to
develop fabrics from this revolu
tionary manufactured fiber.
Working with rayon first as a
decorative yarn, these textile pi
oneers were fascinated with this
material and saw in it the ans
wer to the age-old search for in.
expensive high quality fabrics.
The first plant to produce ra
RECENT PHOTO OF PHEN1X PLANT ? Her* U a recent aerial photo of tho Burlington Mills Phonlx
Plant Tarn spinning milL and on* of BurMll'e 77 manufacturing plants. Phonlx. employing 350 par
ent, js celebrating its fifth annivorsa&r as a mem ber of tho big Burlington family
yon dress goods was constructed
in 1927. A a the producers of ra
yon yam improved their product,
early problems at stiffness, shiny
finish and mottled dyeing were
solved. Soft, pliant dull-finish
fabrics easy to drape and tailor
were developed. Rayon soon e>
merged from the category of a
i
cheap bargain basement substi
tute for silk in to a beati^^l fa
bric in it* own right and at prices
attractve to the general public.
Production was. expanded into
the drapery and upholstery field,
rayon dress crepes, acetate taf
fetas, novelty dress fabrics, and
rayon sheers. The depression
years of the earl, thirties failed
to halt the Company's steady
growth. Closed cotton mills were
purchased and modernized for
rayon and new plants were built,
greatly increasing production and
providing employment for many
idle textile workers.
Decentralisation
With its success in industrial
growth, Burlington Mills also es
tablished a new pattern of indus
trial progress by decentralization
of its plants in smaller cities
where both plants and employ
ees could fully enjoy the bene
fits of small town and rural sur
roundings. Local citizens fre
quently joined with the Company
to <help finance the building or
purchasing of a plant in order to
start a new venture which would
add Its productive strength to the
community.
With the. physical growth of
the plants went an employee re
lations program which never lost
sight of the Company's human
resources and which has main
tained for it a' position of leader
ship in constructve wage and em
(Cont'd on yage five)
69 Employees
Of Phenix Plant
Get Five-Year
Service Pins
? "
Feature of the open house pro
gram for Burlington Mills Phe
nix Plant employees held Thurs
day niaht at the Masonic Dining
Hall was the awarding of five
star service pins to employees.
A total of 69 employees have
completed five years of service
with Burlington. They are:
Frank-A.Adams.
Fr?d Anthony.
Lucy D. Anthony.
George Paris Aldridge.
Mollie Ray Adams.
William K. Bess.
Raleigh Brown.
, Oscar Bollinger.
Virgie T. Barber. . ?
Beatrice Bell.
. Virgie, Blackwell.
Maty Ruth Baity.
Addie Mae Baity.
Ida Bennett.
Edward Boone.
Catherine Bell.
Floyd Baity.
Ralph Conner.
Fred Champion. ~ ?
Callie' Cook. ? ? "
? Doctor C. Champion.
Bessie M. Davis.
Andy Dover.
"Edward Dover. '
Frank Davis.
Clarence L. Elgin. ?
William F. Fleming.
William Ford.
James Fletcher.
John Guiton. '
Gladys Green.
Eunice Holcomb.
Eddie Hill.
John Hamm.
Margaret Huffstetler.
Ethel Hale.
Bertie Hamm. ? "*
A. R. Hawkins.
Fannie Johnson.
Bonnie Kennedy.
Calvin Lingerfelt
Will Means.
Baxter Melton.
Charlie Matthews.
Marceline Owens.
Benny Owensby.
Emma Jane Pearson.
James W. Ramey.
Gertie Roper.
Paul Lee Ruppe.
Dewey Rath bone.
Carol D. Rathbone.
James W. Reinhardt.
Fred Spender.
Manuel Smith.
Theoda B. Scruggs.
Mildred Sheppard.
Chapel Sutherland.
Warren B. Smith.
? Edna Tesseneer.
Ray Tomlln. * ~
Mark Taylor.
William F. Upchunch.
Howard It Whj taker.
Zeb Water*, Jr.
Walter H. Wilsort.
Gerry Ward.
Jonas Wright.
Helen Waters,
OUR CONGRATULATIONS
Dougherty Is Head
Of Phenix Operation
Black Mountain
Native Began
Textile Work
18 Years Ago
* ?
, ?; :
j Fred Daugherty; a native North
'Carolina mountaineer, i? superin
tendent of Burlington Mills Cor.
jporation's Phenix plant, and a
graduate of the school of experi
ence in textile production and
management. .
Mr. Daughtery, a native of
{ Black Mountain, began his tex
tile apprenticeship at Gastonia's
Firestone mill in 1933. There fol
lowed subsequently textile em
ployment in various capacities at
Riverside Mill in Danvlle, Va., at
a U. S. Rubber Company plant n1
Virginia, and at Hardin Manu- j
facturing Company, Rock Hill, S. j
c. j
In 1947, Mr. Daugherty joined i
the Burlington company at Its j
Lakedale Plant, at Fayetteville. !
On February 1, 1949, he became i
superintendent of the Phenix 1
Plant and moved Into the white
frame superintendent's home on J
the hill which overlooks the Bur
lington plant
Superintendent Daugherty de
votes a full working day (some
limes more so) to the business of
getting high-grade BurMil yarn
off the Phenix spindles, including
the sometimes innumerable du
ties connected with the pijncipal j
end result. In addition, he finds
time to be an active member of
the Kings Mountain Lions club
and the Central Methodist chur
ch.
He and Mrs. Daugherty have
one son, appropriately named
SUPERINTENDENT ? Fred Dau
gherty, native of Black Moun
tain. who started his textile ap
prenticeship in 1933, is eupern
tendent of Burlngton Mills Phe
nix Plant.
Fred Daugherty, Jr.
Superintendent Daugherty' is
proud of his plant and proud of
his Phenix Plant team. One of
his frequent remarks is, "Come
down to the plant an<d we'll show
you how we make good yarn."
fturlington Mill
Lists Milestones
1933 Company founded.
1924?106 pounds of rayon
used . 200 employees.
1927 ? First plant to produce
rayon dress goods started. Sal
es 31.800.000.
1932? Rayon consumption
10,000,000 pounds ? 12 plants In
North Carolina ? Sales SIS,
000,000.
(Cont'd on page lour)
Company Takes
Fonnal Note
01 Birthday
In Ceremonies
Burlington Mills Corporation's
i Phenix Plant, one of 77 plants in
the fat-flung Burlington opera
!tion( took official note of its fifth
anniversary in Kings Mountain
[Thursday with special eeremon
ies.
| The Phenix Plant he!d opert
house Thursday night at the Ma
sonic Dining 11.111, honoring 70
employees who have been with
the company since it began op
erating in Kings Mountain five
years ago.
[ The ceremonies, presided over
by Superintendent Fred Daugh
erty, was attended :by a number
of Burlington officials.
Since its purchase oL the Phe
nix Plant, Burlington Mills has
renovated the properties and
greatly modernized th? equip
ment to enable the production of
more and better cotton yarn and
to produce it more cheaply.
This plant numbers 350 per
sons on ita employee records and
has an annual payroll of about
$750,000.
Since buying the property, for
merly the Dilling Mills Company
later Phenix Mills, Inc., Burling
ton has sold the majority of the
houses in the villages to its em
ployees. In most Instances, pay
ments on the houses are less
than rent.
Like most progressive firms,
BurHngton thinks its Just getting
started on the job of rebuilding
the local plant for maximum ef
ficiency. "We've still a lot more
to do," an official remarked re
cently.
The first shipment of a new 60
gauge 20 denier stocking produ
ced by Burlington Mills left this
week by air, accompanied by Car
olyn Edwards of Leaksville, Mis?
North Carolina of 1950, for a
world premiere of the hosiery at
Columbus, Ohio.
We Salute . . .
The Management and Employ
ees o! Burlington Mills' Phenix
Plant on their Fifth Anniversary
? # ? * . ?
in Kings Mountain. * ^ 4 j
this company continued success
. '? ' ' ? ?*?-,' "... - ?; * ? -*
tV' ? '? ? ..?-*? . ?' "A?- ?"*" ? . * . * *&* . V
in its Kings Mountain opera
tions.