The Life of a Mill Hill Kid by Jim Watson, PhD

One of my earliest memories is of wintertime, sitting close to a small fireplace which burned coal. This was the only source of heat for the two-story duplex house that had no underpinning and no insulation, that we called home. The house had three rooms straight back on the first floor and two rooms on the second floor. It seems that I was never warm during the winter. The room was dark at night as it had only one 60-watt bulb light hanging from a cord in the ceiling. There was no TV or Radio, and after dinner the family sat in front of the small fire until bedtime. The women in the family did not wear pants in those days, so during the winter the front of their legs would turn red from the heat exposure. Every so often everyone would get up and turn their back sides to the fire to warm it up as the warmth from the fire did not go out into the room very far. We developed the art of conversation as it was our only entertainment and shared our joys and sadness of the daily events. Going to the bathroom was a real challenge, as it had been added onto to the house after it was built and was connected to the house by a hallway from the exit in the back room. It had no heat of any kind and no hot water. One did not dawdle long there. There was a bathtub, but water for a bath had to be heated using the wood stove in the back room which served as a kitchen.?

The house was located on Park Avenue in a large textile mill village called Bibb City Georgia. Bibb City was a small, incorporated Town near Columbus, Georgia. It consisted of one thousand homes with several sections, each section having a different architectural style. The Village and homes were owned by the Bibb Manufacturing Company and rented to employees of the company. The employees were charged twenty-five cents per room per month and that included water and electricity. The number of rooms allowed was dependent on the number of persons who worked in the mill that were living in the house. Extra rooms were allowed if the family allowed unmarried employee boarders to live in a room or rooms.? Our boarder was Barney, and Barney became like a family member to us.

Bibb City had its own police force, jail, swimming pool and a medical clinic staffed with two full time visiting Nurses. It also had a school that covered all grades from first to eighth grade. Teachers, all unmarried women, were provided living quarters in the teacher’s cottage across the street from the school. The Teacher’s salaries were supplemented by the Bibb Manufacturing Company who also owned the school Building and teacher’s cottage. The Company also built a church and staffed it with a Pastor and provided the Pastor with living quarters next to the church.

The company believed in providing leisure time opportunities for the employees. They provided a large Gymnasium which had a full-size basketball court with spectator seating, and a bowling alley in the basement. The Gym was the site for games with other teams in the Columbus Industrial League for both men and women teams.?

There were also meeting rooms for Women’s Clubs and the company’s own version of the Girl Scouts, called Girl Reserves. A Boy scout cabin was built on the bank of the Chattahoochee River for the Scout Troop that the company sponsored. The Company made sure that the Scout troop had a Scout Master leader who was hand-picked by management of the company. After the age of 13, I was asked by the Scout Master to be the Assistant Scout Master.

To coordinate the sports activities of the town the company employed a full time Athletic Director. He organized men’s and women’s softball and basketball teams and coached the football team for Bibb City School. In addition to the Gym, the company built and maintained two softball fields with stadium seating. For the kids, a swimming pool was operated during the summer 7 days a week. The charge to swim was ten cents for the morning session and ten cents for the afternoon session. I spent most of the day in that pool and once every few weeks helped to drain it and clean it and refill it with fresh water. For that chore, I was allowed to swim free.

During the Second World War, the company bought a mule, and any employee could borrow the mule to plow and plant their own Victory Garden on land owned by the company. I don’t remember my Dad taking advantage of that.

Other benefits provided by the company were a day care facility staffed by the company and free to the employees, and a plant hot house which was used to store the employees’ plants for them during the winter. The staff came by each house and collected the plants and took them to the hot house and returned them in the Spring.

The Bibb Company maintained the houses and landscaping with full time crews who painted all the houses on a cycle, mowed the grass and trimmed bushes. Eventually the dirt streets were paved, and gas lines were run so that the houses had access to gas heating and cooking. The residents felt like rich people after that.

The year I turned 13, we finally got our first television and later that year Dad bought our first automobile. It was a good year for me. I had my first date and earned my Eagle Scout Badge. The company also sponsored me and one of my friends to attend Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico.?

After the 8th grade most of the Bibb City School students went to one of the two High Schools in Columbus. I chose the one nearest us and walked the two miles to and from the school each day. During Fall practice for football, we practiced two times a day. I walked the two miles to practice in the morning, practiced, and walked two miles back home for lunch. After lunch, I walked two miles back to practice for the afternoon practice, and then walked back another two miles home. So, I walked 8 miles a day in addition to practicing for a total of 4 hours a day. I was in good shape at the beginning of the season.

At the age of 16, during summer break from high school, I worked as a weaver the company sheeting fabric mill 5 and 6 days a week. At the summer’s end, I then worked on weekends and holidays in the mill while attending high school.

?In the senior year, I was weaving early in the morning near shift change, when I looked up and saw my day and night Overseers and the man in charge of the whole operation, which included another smaller plant, standing behind me looking my way. At the time, I was caught up on my job with all looms running and helping the guy next to me whose job had a lot of looms standing. After the management moved on, the day Overseer came to me and said that the top manager wanted me to come to his office after I got off work. I walked to the office quaking in my shoes wondering what I had done wrong. When I got in the manager’s office and sat down, he said to me in his always gruff manner, “Boy you want to go to college?” I of course said I wanted to very much but could not afford to. He then proposed two options to me. One, I could go to a two-year school which was a unit of Georgia Tech and major in textiles and the company would pay all expenses. But I would have to return after graduation and work for the company in management for two years. Or I could go to Georgia Tech for 4 years on a plan called the Cooperative Plan that Tech had, where I would go to Tech for one quarter, and then work for the company the next quarter. I would continue that rotation until I graduated. After that the company would offer me a position, but I was not obligated to accept that position. I immediately told him that my choice would be to attend Georgia Tech. He stated that that was his wishes also.

During my Junior year, I met the girl of my dreams and after dating for a while, we decided to get married and move into student housing. Our first child, a daughter, was born in January of my Senior year and watched me graduate in June. It took me 6 years to complete my degree, but I managed to graduate with no student debt as I saved my earnings during my work quarters and paid for me school expenses with it. I also worked part time during my school quarters as well.

After graduation I was offered several jobs and chose one in Lowell, NC with Beaunit Textiles at a plant weaving satin and cotton pocket linings. I soon became a second shift supervisor of a section of 400 looms, working from 2 pm until 11:30 PM. My wife was pregnant with our second child at the time. After my daughter was born, the situation of being on the second shift was beginning to look as if it would be long term. This was hard of my wife with my gone during the times of the day with her dealing with two young children and no transportation. So, I reached out to my original company to see if they had any openings. I was offered a job in Newnan, Georgia at a plant which had woolen system spinning for making carpet yarns and blanket yarns and weaving of woolen system blankets. This position was Assistant Plant Manager and was on the first shift.

After one year, I added an additional duty as Assistant Plant Manager of a second plant a mile away which produced cotton system blankets. After three years, it was decided to end the carpet yarn business due to a change in the market. So, we decided to move the cotton system blankets manufacturing and combine it with the woolen system blanket manufacturing. Then, the building which housed the cotton system blankets was converted to a comforter manufacturing plant. I directed that addition and added that to my duties. Three years after that the Plant Manager was advanced to General Manager of three plants and moved to the company headquarters in Macon, Georgia and I was promoted Plant Manager of the two plants in Newnan.?

After some political moves and changes in the company top management, my old Plant Manager was demoted and send back to my plants. I decided to change rather than move downward, and moved to Valdosta, Georgia as General Manager of a plant in the early stages of start-up. After staffing this plant and getting it operating at efficiency, management decided to move the entire plant to a site in Ozark, Alabama. I headed up the move of all equipment and installation of it to Ozark and moved there to again go through a startup situation. Once that plant was operational, I felt it was in the best interests of my family who were still in Valdosta to make another change. I accepted the position of Assistant General Manager of a large Blanket mill in Swannanoa, NC. This was home for 5 years, when the company management decided to close the plant and exit the blanket business which was a low margin item.?

I moved down the mountain to Marion, Manufacturing as Assistant manager of a large yarn spinning and weaving plant which produced many technical fabrics. During this time, my wife died of a Brain tumor. I had always dreamed of using my Master of Business Administration in Academia. A job opening at the Wilson College of Textiles for an instructor of textile fundamentals and a Model Manufacturing Lab manager. I applied for this and was accepted. This was at a time where companies were moving operations to China at a rapid rate. My move was made just in time, as my old company closed a few months after I left.?

I advanced at the College to Assistant Director of the Textile Extension for Economic Development and Director of the Model Manufacturing Labs. I also developed and taught many courses in textile technology at the college as well as at plant locations across the US and Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Canada. I was appointed as An Adjunct Associate Professor in 2014 and taught several undergraduate courses as well.

In 2015, I retired and established my own company, Textile Training and Consulting, LLC and have engaged in a busy consulting practice since 2015. This provides me with enough activity to keep me active and involved in many facets of the industry.

I feel fortunate to have been afforded the opportunity to be able to leave that small fireplace and experience the places and opportunities which came my way. It has been quite a ride, but I have many fond memories of growing up a “mill hill” kid and would not change those experiences for another way growing up.