Historic Hanestown

Historic Hanestown. . In 1902, Pleasant Henderson Hanes established a knitting company on Stratford Road, initially producing cotton-ribbed men's underwear. He partnered with his sons P. Huber Hanes and William M. Hanes to operate the business, which encompasses a second Stratford Road mill by 1906 and a third plant completed in 1910. P.H. Hanes Knitting Company erected the first houses adjacent to its spinning mill in 1910 and supplied employees with amenities including utilities, recreational areas, and fruit and vegetable garden plots. The mill village, soon known as Hanestown, had its own graded school, police force, and volunteer fire department. The population increased following another spinning plant's completion in 1915. By 1954, the community comprised 168 residences, a store, a recreation center, a school with a large auditorium, and three churches. The industrial complex grew to approximately 550,000 square feet prior to its July 2007 closure.