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For Woman’s Work.
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ONE scarcely connects the idea of a
big, busy, bustling cottou factory
with a mental picture of wide,
shaded streets, pretty modern cottages,
artificial lakes, commodious bath-hous
es, beautiful churches, schools, library
buildings, and well-kept parks; yet
such a combination of industry with
artistic beauty and healthful conditions
is found in Alabama City, a thriving
factory town, located at the southern
base of Lookout Mountain in North Al
abama and among the numerous mills
located in the cotton states, the Dwight
Manufacturing Company holds a very
prominent position.
Alabama City is situated about fifty
six miles northeast of Birmingham, ai d
midway between Gadsden, a growing
and prosperous town of ten to twelve
thousand inhabitants, and Attalla, a
town with a population of twenty five
hundred. The three towns are within a
very few miles of each other, connected
by four railways, and by an electric rail
way, with cars running every thirty
minutes.
The Alabama City plant is modern in
every respect. It is equipped with 65,-
000 spindles, 2000 looms, and is oper
ated by steam-power, Corliss engines of
3000-horse power being used. The com
pany owns its electric lighting plant,
and also the water plant for mill and
village. Twelve hundred operatives are
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employed in the mill, and the village
contains a population of 3.500.
All these facts are true of many other
industries, but the Dwight Manufactur
ing Company is unique in its policy of
liberal provision for the welfare, com
fort and pleasure of its operatives.
Some ten or twelve years ago, in seek
ing a site for this plant, a large, level
tract was selected, covered with a virgin
forest of oak, and sheltered on the north
by Lookout Mountain. In the construc
tion of the village, not a tree was un
necessarily destroyed, and as a result,
to-day there is not a street unsheltered
from the sun in summer, not a cottage
that does not boast its shady lawn.
The two lakes in the heart of the town,
fed by mountain streams, are tree-bor
dered,with grassy banks, and the park—
despite its dancing pavilion and rustic
seats—is a woodland scene in itself. In
fact, the village presents more the ap-
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Along the Lake, Alabama City.
An Attractive Walk, Alabama City.
pearance of a pleasant summer resort
than that of a mill town.
Os the three or four hundred cottages
there are no two alike, no dreary mo
notony of cheap tenements, but beauti
ful little homes of from three to six
rooms, on lots seventy-five feet front by
one hundred and seventy-five feet back.
Room for flower gardens and vegeta
bles; room even for a great number of
the mill workers to keep cows. There
are thousands of acres of free mountain
pastures on which grass grows luxuri
ously for eight months of the year. The
Alabama City people do not deprive
themselves of the luxury of fresh milk
and butter daily, and it is a common
sight to see droves of well-kept cows re
turning in late afternoon from the
mountain ranges. People who come
from other mills to Alabama City are
amazed at the advantages, even luxu
ries, enjoyed at so little expense by the
people of this unusual village.
The attractive and comfortable houses
have three-ply walls, making them
warm in winter and cool in summer.
The rooms are w’ainscoted up four feet,
the remainder of the walls being plas
tered and tinted with kalsomine. All of
these cottages belong to the mill, and
are rented at one dollar per month per
room. The streets have stone gutters,
are broad and level, and are lighted by
electricity.
The domestic life of the mill workers
is made pleasant and wholesome by good
homes, good churches, good schools, and
good wages. No intoxicating liquors are
allowed to be sold in Alabama City, con
sequently there are no habitual drunk
ards. Here, a mill hand may bring up
his children in a clean, wholesome at
mosphere, making good and useful
citizens of them.
There is a flourishing Baptist Church,
with large membership and a regular
minister. There is also a beautiful
Union Church which is used by other
denominations—Episcopalian®, Presby
terians, and Methodists all holding ser
vices here. The Company contributes
very generously to the support of the
ministers, besides furnishing each, rent
free, a comfortable six-room residence.
The education of the children is lib
erally provided for. There is a modern
public school building, well heated, well
Woman’s Work.
An Id?al Mill Village.
afternoon holidays.
Among the men of Alabama City, there
are Masons, Odd Fellows, Knights of
Pythias, Red Men Juniors, etc. Each
order has a separate property-room in a
large building which contains a lodge
room 25 by 65 feet, and also a smoking
room, toilet, and large ante-room.
There is a splendid town hall in which
lyceum entertainments are given
throughout the season, also a bowling
alley, and a club room free to all the
mill people.
One of the most beautiful buildings in
the village is the Howard Gardner
Nichols Memorial Library. Mr. Nich
ols, a son of one of the large stock
holders, undertook the building of this
mill and village in 1895, when he had
just graduated from Harvard. Full of
enthusiasm and energy, young Nichols
did not confine his efforts to mere super
intendence, but lent a willing hand
wherever his services could be of use.
It was in an act of this kind that he was
caught under a piece of heavy falling
machinery, and received injuries from
which he died. Since then his father
erected to his memory the beautiful
library which bears his name.
This building is of pressed brick, with
marble trimmings, and is set in a fresh,
green park, beautiful with flowers and
lighted, well ventilated, and equipped
with modern furniture and excellent
teachers. This school has not even an
incidental fee, being absolutely free.
Amusements and recreations are also
provided for old and young. There is a
modern natatorium on the bank of one
of the lakes, where women and child'en
may learn to swim in water graded from
two to five feet deep. The bathing houses
contain forty-five dressing rooms, with
hooks, racks and comfortable seats.
Baths are free to the mill people, and
frequently in summer time one may see
one hundred or more swimming in their
neat bathing suits, a Tera day’s work in
the mill.
The park, another place of frequent
resort, is well kept and attractive, with
its beautiful trees close-cut grass, dauc
ing pavilion, rustic seats, and swings for
children. The Mitchell Cornet Baud,
equipped with handsome instruments
and uniforms, gives free concerts every
Thursday evening at the band pavilion
on the lake, and on Sunday afternoons
sacred concerts are given in the park.
In addition, there are large base ball
grounds for the boys, who take great
pleasure in this sport on their Saturday
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View in Howard Gardner Nichols Memorial Library.
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Main Factory, Alabama City.
shrubbery. There is a paid librarian
who keeps the library open every eve
ning from seven to nine, and from one
to three o’clock on Sundays. A profuse
supply of papers, magazines and good
books are thus of free access to all the
mill people.
In regard to the mill rooms, they are
well lighted and ventilated, ami thor
oughly sanitary. The ventilating sys
tem blows cool air into the mill in sum
mer, and warm air in winter In sum
mer a ton of ice is supplied free every
daj- for drinking water in the mill. The
operatives are paid off every two weeks
in cash, and they trade where they like,
there being no commissary run in con
nection with the mill.
On Saturdays the mill is stopped at
12:30 o’clock giving the operatives half
h diday. No city license is charged on
country produce, and the mill people get
the benefit of low prices on eggs, chick
ens, vegetables, etc., brought in by the
farmers.
In addition to these advantages, the
climate is mild and healthful, the
mountain air bracing, and within one
half mile of the factory there are fine
springs of sulphur, lime aud chalybeate
water. In fact, taken from every view
point-working, educational, moral and
social—the conditions of life in Ala
bama City are most remarkable for their
ease and attractiveness.
And yet there are no drones. An air
of hustling activity pervades the whole
town. Au immense business is done,
and large profits are made. The mill
owners of the Dwight Company are no
less prosperous because of their expen
ditures in behalf of their hundreds of
employees. In this utilitarian day it is
not often that we find the golden thread
of loving consideration for humanity
woven into the history of a great manu
facturing industry.
Young Gardner Nichols had cherished
many plans for the construction of a
model village in which the mill people
could be happy and contented, and,
since his untimely death, these plans
have been conscientiously worked out,
as he had intended—every feature of the
village bearing testimony to his gener
ous heart and high ideals.
That Alabama City is to-day the most
beautiful mill village in the South, pos
sibly in the whole country, is simply the
fruition of plans to which he devoted so
much thought and energy, and in the
accomplishment of which he finally lost
his life. Mathilde Bilbro.
MA Y, 1909.