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Businesses, mills and venues

Bellevue Mill

The Bellevue Manufacturing Company was a cotton mill on South Nash Street in west Hillsborough, incorporated in 1904 with Shepperd Strudwick as president and built in 1909 to weave ginghams. With the Eno Cotton Mill it provided most of Hillsborough's jobs in the early twentieth century; its last operator closed it in 2000, but the buildings still stand.

Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange, Orange County GIS, OpenStreetMap and a few other published sources named on each site’s page; town and community pins show approximate locations.

People in its history

People named in events about this site, ordered by number of mentions. Each example links to an entry with a source citation.

Sites linked through the same people

In the chronology

Storylines about this site, each with a page of its own:

  1. Shepperd Strudwick builds the Bellevue cotton mill on South Nash Street The Bellevue mill west of South Nash Street, a short way beyond the town line of the day, was backed by local investors and staffed by people leaving farm work. The Observer reports a Bellevue knitting mill going up late in 1904, its engine first fired on July 7, 1905, and a railroad siding and new stock for spinning that year; Heather Wagner Slane's 2017 architectural survey dates the mill to 1909, perhaps an enlargement or rebuilding. By 1912 it ran 5,000 spindles and 200 narrow looms. NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey (2017), p. 13 · Also: Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), July 13, 1905, p. 3
  2. P. C. Collins buys the southern part of the future Bellevue mill site from J. W. Hooker Before the Bellevue company was incorporated, P. C. Collins bought the south half of the mill site near the West Hillsborough depot from J. W. Hooker; a later hand added that he acted as the mill's agent. Collins, a shareholder, passed the land to the company in 1905. People: J. W. Hooker, Paul C. Collins NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (OR1745), p. 15
  3. Shepperd Strudwick heads the new Bellevue Manufacturing Company in west Hillsborough The Bellevue Manufacturing Company, a cotton mill in west Hillsborough, was incorporated on October 13, 1904, with Shepperd Strudwick as its president and Norfleet Webb as secretary and treasurer. Strudwick remained president until he resigned in 1929. By 1912 the mill ran 5,000 spindles and 200 looms making dress ginghams. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (OR1745), p. 15 · Also: Open Orange: Bellevue Manufacturing Company
  4. Haywood H. Thompson builds a knitting mill west of Hillsborough for the Bellevue Manufacturing Company Contractor Haywood H. Thompson was pushing work on a knitting mill being built west of town by the Bellevue Manufacturing Company, which was expected to be running by spring. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), November 24, 1904, p. 2
  5. Mill engineer Richard C. Biberstein lays out the machinery for the Bellevue mill The new company hired Richard C. Biberstein, a Charlotte mill designer trained in Massachusetts, to plan the arrangement of its machinery; his drawings run from 1905 to 1907. Fifteen years later he designed the mill's weaving room. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (OR1745), p. 15
  6. Shepperd Strudwick buys Allen Ruffin's land north of the future Bellevue mill Four years before the Bellevue mill was built, Strudwick acquired the tract north of the site from Ruffin, one of the Eno Cotton Mill's founders, probably to build company housing there. People: Allen Jones Ruffin NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey (2017), p. 13
  7. Bellevue stockholders enlarge the company to spin its own yarn At a meeting the stockholders of the Bellevue Manufacturing Company decided to raise its subscribed stock above $35,000 so it could install a spinning plant and make its own yarns. Cold weather slowed work on the buildings, and in May Samuel M. Gattis described the new plant as a $60,000 knitting mill. People: Samuel Mallett Gattis Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), February 2, 1905, p. 3
  8. The Bellevue mill builds a railroad siding to its plant The Bellevue Manufacturing Company built a siding from the Southern Railway, starting east of the Hillsborough depot and running to its new plant. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), March 9, 1905, p. 3
  9. The Bellevue Knitting Mill fires up its engine for the first time The engine at the Bellevue Knitting Mill in West Hillsborough was fired up for the first time on the morning of July 7, and its whistle told the town that work was near. The following week the tank that fed the mill's hose and sprinklers gave way, a loss of about $500 that delayed the start of operations. Orange County Observer (Hillsborough), July 13, 1905, p. 3
  10. The Bellevue Commercial Block is built as West Hillsborough's shopping street Five one-story brick buildings with seven storefronts on South Nash Street near the old depot became the West End business district for the mill village and West Hillsborough. Over the years they held a drug store, the Cates brothers' general store with a branch post office, a barber, a dry cleaner, a cafe and a movie theater. NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey (2017), p. 29
  11. The Bellevue mill superintendent's house is built on South Nash Street The two-story house built for the mill superintendent, with corbelled brick chimneys, a canted bay and a wraparound porch, is the most decorative early house in the surveyed area and stands out beside the plain mill houses next to it. NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey (2017), p. 25
  12. The Bellevue mill runs 5,000 spindles and 200 looms making dress ginghams By 1912 the Bellevue mill had 5,000 spindles and 200 narrow looms weaving dress ginghams 27 and 32 inches wide, sold through agents in New York and New Jersey. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (OR1745), p. 15
Show all 40 dated events
  1. R. B. Mason's land west of the Bellevue mill is platted as the West Hill Property To meet the need for workers' housing near the two mills, Mason's holdings were laid out in 1913 as a grid of roughly equal lots, bounded by the Bellevue mill village, Eno Street and the railroad, West Hill Street, and Mount Willing Road (later King Street). Most houses there went up from the 1920s to the 1940s, and the section beyond West Hill Avenue was platted in the 1930s. NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey (2017), p. 14
  2. Eno Cotton Mill reports 150 women among its 500 workers Reports from the years before the wartime changes count about 500 workers at Hillsborough's Eno Cotton Mill, 150 of them women and 50 children under 16, on a 60-hour week. The top average daily wage for women was $1.75 against $4.00 for men; at the smaller Bellevue mill nearby women's top average was $2.50. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Eno Cotton Mill, National Register of Historic Places nomination
  3. The Bellevue mill is also turning out cheviot cloth By 1916 the Bellevue mill was weaving cheviot, a rough-finished cloth, alongside its ginghams. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (OR1745), p. 15
  4. The Bellevue mill changes over from steam to electric power The mill was built to run belt-driven machinery from a steam engine. By 1919 it ran partly on electricity, and by the mid-1920s it had changed over completely, with individual motors on the machines and the belt-way removed. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (OR1745), p. 19
  5. The Bellevue company builds its mill village north of the mill In the early 1920s, as it doubled the mill, the company set closely spaced houses along a narrow loop road reached from West King and South Nash streets, in three plain types; the one-and-a-half-story houses had two front doors so workers on different shifts could come and go separately. All the houses appear on the 1924 Sanborn map. NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey (2017), p. 24 · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company nomination, sec. 8, p. 8 and p. 14 note 7
  6. The Bellevue mill is enlarged in 1920 and again in 1923 Expansions in 1920 and 1923 were part of a decade of growth in which the mill more than doubled its spindles and looms, and they coincided with the building of much of its company housing. The 1923 work, announced by late June, was an addition to the mill and a two-story slasher, cloth-finishing and storage building, with T. H. Lawrence of Durham named as contractor. NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey (2017), p. 13 · Also: The News (Chapel Hill), June 28, 1923, p. 5
  7. Bellevue Manufacturing Company builds fifteen mill houses at Hillsboro The Bellevue Manufacturing Company had begun fifteen dwellings for its workers and had recently built a storage warehouse, with a dye house and a mill addition planned. The Eno Mills planned 30 to 40 houses, a warehouse and a factory addition; both companies made ginghams and cheviots and called demand only fair. The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 1, 1923, p. 1
  8. After its 1920s additions the Bellevue mill runs 10,740 spindles and 592 looms The additions of the early 1920s more than doubled the mill's spindles and looms, and by 1926 the company's capital stock stood at $500,000. In 1919 it had still declared only its original $125,000. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (OR1745), p. 18
  9. Shepperd Strudwick resigns as president of Bellevue, and L. E. Beard takes over After twenty-five years as president, Shepperd Strudwick stepped down in 1929, the year its stock value fell from $500,000 to $419,600. L. E. Beard succeeded him and his partner Norfleet Webb as president and treasurer. People: L. E. Beard NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (OR1745), p. 19
  10. Hesslein and Company buys the Belle-Vue mill, ending local ownership Belle-Vue Manufacturing Company had been run from Hillsborough since 1904, lately under L. E. Beard. In 1945 Hesslein and Company bought it and spent over half a million dollars on new machinery and on baths for the mill village houses. People: L. E. Beard Lefler and Wager, Orange County, 1752-1952 (1953), p. 275
  11. Belle-Vue Manufacturing Company cuts its capital stock by $200,000 At a special stockholders' meeting in Hillsborough, Belle-Vue Manufacturing Company voted unanimously to retire 2,000 shares of preferred stock it owned and reduce its capital stock by $200,000. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), November 21, 1946, p. 7
  12. Belle-Vue Manufacturing Company gives service pins to 220 workers On June 12, 1948, the Belle-Vue mill presented service pins to 220 employees, with 3,443 years of service among them, at a ceremony and dinner at Hillsboro High School. Board chairman John K. Whitaker of Hesslein and Company said the owners had spent close to half a million dollars on the mill since buying it in 1945 and had raised output nearly 70 percent without longer hours. People: L. E. Beard The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 17, 1948, p. 1
  13. The Bellevue mill employs 355 workers on two shifts In 1953 the mill had 355 workers on two shifts, and the company still owned its mill village, whose houses now had indoor plumbing. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (OR1745), p. 20
  14. Belle Vue Manufacturing Company cuts production and lays off workers Citing a lack of summer orders, the Belle Vue mill told its employees of further curtailment after its two-week vacation shutdown, laying some off indefinitely and putting others on alternate weeks. An official said the plant, already on a three-day schedule, was running at about a third of its pre-vacation schedule. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), July 23, 1953, p. 1
  15. The Bellevue company's stock is worth $219,600, well under half its 1926 value Still listed under the Bellevue name in 1955, the company had stock valued at $219,600, with 14,712 spindles and 499 looms. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (OR1745), p. 20
  16. Eno and Bellevue mills raise wages five cents an hour The Eno plant of Cone Mills and the Bellevue Manufacturing Company put a five-cent hourly raise into effect for all production workers, following a wave of raises across the Southern textile industry. Cone said the raise brought its average straight-time pay to $1.33 an hour. People: L. E. Beard The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 25, 1955, p. 1
  17. Hesslein and Company, owner of Hillsboro's Belle Vue mill, is acquired by the William L. Barrell Company The New York gray-goods selling agency Hesslein and Company, which had owned the Belle Vue Manufacturing Company of Hillsboro since 1945, was acquired by the William L. Barrell Company of New York, with ownership passing November 1. Belle Vue president L. E. Beard would not say how the change might affect the mill, which employed about 300 people, but expected it to bring wider selling coverage. People: L. E. Beard The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), October 24, 1957, p. 1
  18. The Bellevue mill village is platted and its houses sold to private owners After the mill company had been sold by 1956, its village was surveyed into lots in 1958 so the houses could be sold. Unlike the Eno mill houses, which were carried off to new sites, the Bellevue houses stayed where they were, which is why the village keeps its original streets but has irregular lot lines. NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey (2017), p. 13
  19. The William L. Barrell Company of New York owns the Belle Vue mill in Hillsboro Belle Vue Manufacturing Company, the West Hillsboro mill, was by now wholly owned by the William L. Barrell Company of New York, which had bought it a few months earlier. At the commissioners' March 17 tax equalization hearing the firm's vice president asked for a review of the county's valuation of the mill machinery, about $700,000, which he said was out of line with what Barrell had paid. People: L. E. Beard The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), March 20, 1958, p. 1
  20. Belle-Vue Manufacturing Company files articles of dissolution The Hillsboro company that had run the Belle Vue cotton mill filed articles of dissolution with the North Carolina Secretary of State and began liquidating, according to a notice signed by its president, L. E. Beard. People: L. E. Beard The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 16, 1959, p. 7
  21. Wellman Operating Corporation takes over operation of the Belle Vue mill A New York firm, the Wellman Operating Corporation, took over running the Belle Vue textile plant, with another New York company as sole selling agent. The William L. Barrell Company, a mill machinery firm that had bought the plant from Hesslein about two years before, kept ownership and leased out the operations; L. E. Beard stayed on as manager and the mill kept its name. People: L. E. Beard The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 16, 1959, p. 1
  22. The open court in the middle of the Bellevue mill is roofed over for storage For more storage, the owners roofed the space inside the U-shaped mill with open-web steel trusses running from the main mill to the weaving room and closed its east side with a new wall, removing the 1923 stair tower. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (OR1745), p. 10
  23. The Bellevue mill changes hands and runs as Hillsboro Mills On May 23, 1962 Hillsboro Mills, Inc., a newly formed subsidiary of the Schepps brothers' textile firm of Holyoke, Massachusetts, announced that it would occupy the closed Belle Vue Manufacturing plant in Hillsboro, to make and dye fancy yarn-dyed cotton goods on three shifts, with operations to begin by July 1. The National Register nomination says the mill was sold in the 1960s to investors from the Northeast, and trade directories list it as Hillsboro Mills. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (OR1745), p. 20 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 24, 1962, p. 1; The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 7, 1962, p. 13
  24. Hillsborough makes its first annexations beyond the one-square-mile town In 1966 the town began extending its limits past the square mile platted in 1754, first taking in homes on Cameron and Ruffin streets to the northeast and the Bellevue mill and its village to the west. Annexations have continued since, most of them under ten acres. NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey (2017), p. 10
  25. The former Bellevue mill is sold again and runs as Falk Fibers and Fabrics In the 1970s northeastern investors bought the mill again; directories list it as Falk, Fibers, and Fabrics, with a dyeing and finishing subsidiary at the same site. NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (OR1745), p. 20
  26. Flynt Fabrics and Finishing closes the former Bellevue mill The shutdown of the Flynt Fabrics and Finishing Company, successor to the Bellevue Manufacturing Company, in 2000 followed the Eno mill's 1984 closing and dealt Hillsborough a second economic blow. The mill buildings still stand between the town and West Hillsborough. NC Digital Collections: Heather Wagner Slane, Hillsborough Architectural Survey (2017), p. 16
  27. The Bellevue mill joins the Study List The National Register Advisory Committee placed the Belle-Vue Manufacturing Company mill in West Hillsborough on North Carolina's Study List, its list of properties likely to qualify for the National Register. NC State Historic Preservation Office: National Register Advisory Committee agendas, minutes and approved lists, p. 944
  28. The Bellevue Manufacturing Company is listed in the National Register On August 28, 2003 the National Park Service listed the Bellevue Manufacturing Company in Hillsborough in the National Register of Historic Places. NC State Historic Preservation Office: North Carolina Listings in the National Register of Historic Places, Orange County · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: Bellevue Manufacturing Company, National Register nomination (OR1745)

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Indexed works

The index has no works about Bellevue Mill itself yet. The surveys and maps below cover where it stands. Search the index for Bellevue Mill, or tell us about a book or record we have missed.

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about Bellevue Mill alone: the architectural surveys that cover its town or the county, and maps drawn while it stood. Several of the surveys can be read free online at NC Digital Collections.

Hillsborough architectural survey

Slane, Heather Wagner · 2017 · hmwPreservation

Survey of Hillsborough's historic buildings by Heather Wagner Slane of hmwPreservation, completed in September 2017. The 40-page report covers the town's architecture and history with color illustrations and maps.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

NC Cardinal NC Digital Collections DPLA

NC Digital Collections record courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Time in place, place in time : history and sense of place in Hillsborough, North Carolina

Warren, Cheryl Davis · 2005

Cheryl Davis Warren's 2005 study of history and sense of place in Hillsborough, 216 leaves with illustrations, maps and a bibliography. Written as human geography, it treats the town's past alongside its social conditions and the ways residents understand where they live.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

UNC

Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Hillsboro, Orange County, North Carolina.

1905

Fire insurance map of Hillsborough, spelled Hillsboro, drawn by the Sanborn Map Company in January 1905 on two sheets, from the Sanborn Maps collection.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

Library of Congress Digital Collections

Birdseye View of Hillsboro, N.C. Looking East

1905 · A. C. Bosselman & Co., New York, N.Y

Bird's-eye view of Hillsborough looking east, with houses and industrial buildings, on a postcard published by A. C. Bosselman & Co. of New York about 1905 to 1915. Card number 11116.

Included because: A survey or map of the town or county where the site stands.

DPLA

Found a book OCPL doesn’t own? You can often borrow it through interlibrary loan at OCPL.

Start at OCPL

    Where to look on the shelf

    These books don’t necessarily mention Bellevue Mill, but they cover where it stands, its kind of building and the land, family and burial records behind it, and they are where a search for a place like this usually goes next. All are at OCPL, most in the Wall Collection.

    Histories of the town and county

    • Start here · NC 975.656 LLO History of the Town of Hillsborough, 1754-1982 Lloyd, Allen Alexander · 1983

      A 1982 revision of Allen Alexander Lloyd's history of Hillsborough, now written with Pauline O. Lloyd and carried forward from the town's founding in 1754 to 1982. Published in Hillsborough by A. A. Lloyd, 310 pages with illustrations and a bibliography.

    • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 HOLADAY Hillsborough Holaday, Chris · 2002

      J. Chris Holaday's Images of America volume on Hillsborough (Arcadia, 2002), built mostly from photographs and postcards. Chapters cover homes, churches and schools, business and industry, local people, scenes around town, and sports, entertainment and events.

    • Foundational · 975.656 RYAN Orange County Trio: Hillsborough, Chapel Hill, and Carrboro, North Carolina, Histories and Tour Guides Ryan, Elizabeth Shreve · 2004

      Elizabeth Shreve Ryan's combined histories and tour guides for Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro, the three towns of Orange County, with the University of North Carolina treated alongside Chapel Hill. Each town gets a narrative history and a tour of its streets and buildings. Published by Chapel Hill Press in 2004, 369 pages with illustrations and maps.

    Buildings and surveys

    • Foundational · NC 720.975 BIS A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Piedmont North Carolina Bishir, Catherine W. · 2003

      Catherine W. Bishir and Michael T. Southern's field guide to the historic buildings of the North Carolina Piedmont, arranged county by county from Wake and Franklin in the east to Mecklenburg and Gaston in the west. The Orange County section takes in Hillsborough, Chapel Hill and Carrboro along with the rural county, with entries on individual buildings and maps for finding them. Published 2003, 596 pages with illustrations and maps.

    • Foundational · NC 720.975 HILLSBOR Hillsborough Historic District Inventory 2006

      An inventory of the buildings in the Hillsborough Historic District, dated 2006. It concerns historic buildings and the buildings and structures of Hillsborough. Useful for anyone checking a particular property in the town's historic district.

    • Start here · NC 720.975 BEL Photocensus: A Photographic Survey of Buildings in the Hillsborough, N.C. Historic District Built Before 1950 Bellinger, Susan McArtor · 1991

      Susan McArtor Bellinger's photographic survey of the buildings in the Hillsborough Historic District put up before 1950, self-published in Hillsborough in 1991. Arranged as a guidebook, it records houses and other structures in photographs. 142 pages with illustrations.

    Show 1 more
    • Rebecca Wall Collection · 917.565 DUL The Pelican Guide to Hillsborough, Historic Orange County, North Carolina Dula, Lucile Noell · 1989

      Lucile Noell Dula's guidebook to Hillsborough and its historic buildings, published by Pelican in 1989. It pairs a tour of the town with notes on its history, in 128 illustrated pages with a bibliography. Part of the Wall Local History Collection.

    Land, family and burial records

    • Foundational · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY Hillsborough, North Carolina History of Town Lots: The Complete Reference Guide Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2013

      Stewart E. Dunaway worked through Hillsborough, N.C., lot by lot, giving each town lot a synopsis of its history, a plat showing where it sits and transcripts of the deeds he could locate for it. The second issue runs to 720 pages with illustrations, maps and facsimiles.

    • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 333.3 DUNAWAY Hillsborough, North Carolina History of Town Lots: Addendum 2015 Dunaway, Stewart E. · 2015

      Stewart E. Dunaway's 2015 addendum to his history of Hillsborough's town lots, adding deed records arranged by lot number and further town history, with the expansion of the 1890s covered for the first time. Self-published in North Carolina as version 1.0, 446 pages with illustrations, facsimiles and maps. Topics include deeds, court records, land titles and real property in Hillsborough.

    • Foundational · NC 333.3 IND An Index to the Town Lots of Hillsborough: Orange County, North Carolina 1982

      An index to the town lots of Hillsborough, Orange County, compiled in 1982 as a guide to the deeds and court records that trace each lot's ownership.

    Research sources

    Sources cited in this site’s history, National Register documents, and places to get research help. Research guide: Research a business or a changing street.

    Background

    National Register files

    Historic sites, markers, and maps

    Records of the time 24

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    Collections and databases

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