Jonuary 27, 1934
THE STATE
Гаде
Seventeen
How Uncle Tom Helped to Start
a Great Industry
вУ<
lula weir
★
HAT HAM wool blankets have
not yet furnished comfort to the
inhabitants of any of the far¬
away planets, but they have “covered
the earth” for long, long years. Just
as soon as a means of transportation
is established between the earth anil
the other worlds, Chatham blankets
probably will be the first commodity
to make the journey through space.
Г11
practically every country of the
globe and wherever civilization exists,
these blankets are in constant demand.
It is not because the Chatham Manu¬
facturing Company operates the larg¬
est blanket mills south of the Mason
and Dixon line that its products are
always in heavy demand all over the
United States of America and the far
away continents, but because the fin¬
ished product is equalled by no other
manufacturer in the South.
Little did Elkin’s pioneer citizen,
Thomas L. Gwyn, who, with his broth¬
er-in-law the late Alexander Chatham,
as associate, founded a little mill for
the manufacture of rough woolen jeans
cloth, sixty or more years ago, ever ex¬
pect to see in this section a manufac¬
turing industry of such magnitude as
the Chatham Blanket Mills, with 284
looms and a capacity of 80,000 pairs
of blankets per week.
“Uncle Tom,” now in his 92nd year,
grew reminiscent the other day while
quarantined in his home, much against
his will, by inclement weather. Fur¬
nishing land for the site and advancing
capital for the building, machinery and
operating cost in the outset. Mr. Gwyn.
with his brother-in-law, launched the
small industry. The original plant, a two
story building of wood construction and
operated by waterpower harnessed
from Elkin creek, was located approxi¬
mately two miles distant from the pres¬
ent mammoth plant. Only one loom
was used, the wool being carded and
spun by hand. In addition to custom
work, rough jeans were manufactured
and carted over the muddy roads to
Salisbury and other markets by wagon
team. A grist mill for custom grinding
of corn and wheat was located in the
same building.
In 1895. when a decision was made
to erect a new plant of brick in a more
Thomas L. Gwyn, the grand old
man of Elkin, who was associated
with Alexander Chatham in estab¬
lishing one of the leading indus¬
tries in western North Carolino.
- ★ -
central location, down town. Mr. Gwyn
disposed of his interest in the mill and
the firm name was changed from Gwyn
Sc Chatham to the Chatham Manufac¬
turing Company. “Uncle Tom” knew
the ways of the Yadkin river when it
occasionally went on a rampage, and
was opposed to the lowland location,
in the flood district.
Orders of widely different nature
pour into this famous mill. The blan¬
kets are used exclusively in America’s
largest hotels. From the wool clipped
from the backs of White TTouse sheep
during President Wilson’s administra¬
tion. an order was filled some years
ago for blankets to be retained as keep¬
sakes by meml>ers of Mrs. Wilson’s
family. The United States Navy has
been one of the most loyal patrons of
the mills and during the World War.
the plant furnished the War Depart¬
ment sufficient blankets to equip one-
third of the soldiers going overseas.
★
The industry founded by Thomas
IaMioir Gwyn is being carried along on
a greatly enlarged, modernized scale
under the guidance of Thurmond Chat¬
ham as it was by bis father, the Into
Hugh G. Chatham, a well-known pow¬
er in business and industry in north¬
west -North Carolina in his day. For
several years, the wheels have been in
motion twenty-four hours daily with
separate shifts on .lay and night duty.
The history of the nation, likewise,
is closely linked with Mr. Gwyn who
comes from distinguished ancestry.
The Gwyn family was first established
in America in 1010, the first settler
coining from Wales and easting his lot
in Virginia. According to tradition,
this original settler, while exploring
the coast along Chesapeake Bay, saved
tin* life of Pocahontas, the beautiful
Indian maiden, while she was attempt¬
ing to swim to an island. To express
her gratitude, Pocahontas, in the name
of her father, presented to voting
Gwyn, the island of 2,000 acres, which
was named Gwyn Island.
The courage of this early forbear
has been evident down through the
generations, one example being the un¬
blighted record of “U n
с
1 e Tom"
throughout the Civil War, a period
which he delights to review upon any
occasion. The grandson of a soldier of
the Revolution. Thomas Gwyn has
lived through four wars. He has seen
Elkin grow from forests and fields to
a thriving manufacturing and commer¬
cial town and in his nineties, looks at
life with the philosophy of a sage.
Пс
scorns spectacles and keeps keenly alive
to the every-day affairs of the world.
He is usually one of the first voters at
the polls in a general election.
“Uncle Tom” retired from business
many years ago. but his interest in
general affairs remains keen and few
days find him absent from the publie
<quare. His memory is unusual, his
sense of humor is keen, and his friends
are not limited to any age or station
in life. He likes folks and is a friend
to his fellow man. He wears the title.
“Elkin’s grand old young man” and is
the one citizen to whom young and old
pay constant homage.