After the War

After the War. . After the Civil War, the 1839 factory was not rebuilt. According to a letter written by Barrington King to his son Ralph Browne King, it was decided that only the 1854 mill would be reconstructed. The foundation of the newer mill was good and the corners to the third floor were not damaged. There was enough material to put one mill building back into operation., On the 19th of July 1865, the Stockholders of the Roswell Manufacturing Company passed the following motion:, Resolved that the President be requested to rebuild as rapidly as possible the New Factory recently destroyed by Fire; to stock it with Machinery and to recommence operations., Barrington died in 1866. General A.J. Hansell became President of the Roswell Manufacturing Company. On April 27, 1870, Hansell reported in the Meeting Minutes of the Stockholders of the Roswell Manufacturing Company:, I have been applied to by a Northern Company to sell the site and water power of the “Old Factory”. This sale I promptly informed the parties I could not advise you to make – That power is of great value to you, and will in the future doubtless be again brought into your service and should not be parted with – Besides its location is such that its use by others might prove exceedingly inconvenient and annoying to you., As early as April 1871, a committee of the stockholders was named to examine and report upon “the propriety of erecting another mill at the site of the “Old Factory” and the best of accomplishing it – if deemed advisable to do so.” The walls of the factory may have been removed and the interior cleaned out. In October 1881, it was recommended that a mill be built to utilize the lower waterpower., The newer mill was built above the site in 1882 and was in operation by February 1883 according to the Report to the Stockholders, dated April 25, 1883. It is believed that a large amount of salvaging probably took place over the years and the hillside may have been pushed down over the original factory site. As time passed, the location of the 1839 mill faded from memory., (captions) , Report to the Stockholders of the Roswell Manufacturing Company, April 25, 1883., In 1989, an archeological survey was conducted by Southeastern Archeological Services, Inc. in the area of the original cotton factory. It concluded that the large rock wall represented the south foundation of the first mill and served as part of the tailrace.