American Spinning

American Spinning Mill, with $125,000 capital, started operations in September 1895. Oscar H. Sampson (1828-1904) of Sampson, Hall, and Company of Boston, Mass, late in 1891, had purchased from the estate of Henry P. Hammett, former president of Piedmont and Camperdown Mills, more than a hundred acres of farmland extending from Buncombe Road east past Langston Creek and the Southern Railway., The first building was a two story wood from structure with large windows, which later was called “The Little Mill”. The first machinery for the mill was purchased from the Old Camperdown Mill, which had been closed due to legal problems. The first mill was called Sampson Mill. However, in 1896, it was changed to American Spinning Company., In 1900, a four and five story brick building was constructed. It began operations in 1901 as a weaving mill. The number three mill extension began operations in 1903. The first officers were Oscar H. Sampson, James Orr, and Jack Cagle. James H. Morgan, a successful local Greenville merchant, took over full operation of the mill in 1898 with T. A. Sizemore as his superintendent. The mill grew through a fourth extension and several warehouses., The village consisted of 225 houses built at 3 different stages. An elementary school, Bethel Methodist and Morgan memorial Baptist churches, a Community Building, and a swimming pool, were all built by the mill ownership. The mill was equipped with 1.056 looms, 52,416 spinning spindles, and 5,000 twister spindles. Over 700 employees worked at the American Spinning Mill at the height of production., Cone Mill Corporation took over ownership in 1953. The mill remained in operation until it closed at midnight on June 27, 1990.