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Businesses, mills and venues

Carrboro Mill No. 7 (Durham Hosiery, later National Munitions)

In Carrboro. 22 dated events and 1 storyline, 1913–1958.

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

Storyline about this site, with a page of its own:

  1. The Lloyd yarn mill becomes Durham Hosiery Mill No. 7 The Thomas F. Lloyd Manufacturing Company mill was sold to Durham Hosiery Mills, which ran it as Mill No. 7 alongside Mill No. 4, the former Alberta mill. People: Thomas F. Lloyd (Carrboro mill builder), Julian S. Carr Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 14 · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: Alberta Mill Complex, National Register nomination; Open Orange: Thomas F. Lloyd Manufacturing Co. / Durham Hosiery Mill No. 7
  2. A fenced playground is built beside Mill No. 7 Around 1920 a fenced playground with swings and horseshoe pits went up on the north side of Mill No. 7, one of the projects of the mills' Industrial Democracy plan. It was taken apart in World War II so its metal could go to the war effort. Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 20
  3. Durham Hosiery Mill No. 7 in Carrboro gets a brick and concrete addition Builder Charles Martindale was to finish by June 1, 1925, a brick and concrete addition to the steam room of Durham Hosiery Mill No. 7 in Carrboro. The Chapel Hill Weekly, May 28, 1925, p. 3
  4. Durham Hosiery Mills begins cutting back its Carrboro operations With demand for cotton stockings sliding since silk hosiery came in during the mid-1910s, the company began curtailing work at its Carrboro mills in 1928. The 1929 crash deepened the slump, and Mill No. 4 shut in 1930. Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 24
  5. Durham Hosiery closes its last Carrboro mill Durham Hosiery Mills dissolved its business at Mill No. 7 in June 1938 and laid off the workers, ending the company's operations in Carrboro. Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 24 · Also: NC State Historic Preservation Office: Alberta Mill Complex, National Register nomination (OR0001); Open Orange: Thomas F. Lloyd Manufacturing Co. / Durham Hosiery Mill No. 7; Chapel Hill Weekly, December 16, 1938, p. 1
  6. The cotton warehouses beside Carrboro's two mills are torn down The large cotton warehouses next to Mill No. 4 and Mill No. 7, where ginned cotton was bought and stored for Durham Hosiery Mills, were torn down and hauled away in the 1940s. Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 23
  7. National Munitions Corporation takes over a Carrboro hosiery mill for shell loading The National Munitions Corporation bought the idle Durham Hosiery Mills building to the left of the railway station in Carrboro, with several nearby houses, to load anti-aircraft shells for the Navy with about 150 local workers in three shifts. By mid-March repairs were under way, L. J. Phipps was its resident director, and more than 300 job seekers had applied for birth certificates at the register of deeds' office in Hillsboro. People: Luther James Phipps, Samuel Weldon Andrews The Chapel Hill Weekly, March 13, 1942, p. 1
  8. A wartime munitions plant opens in the former Mill No. 7 National Munitions Corporation converted the empty Mill No. 7 on Roberson Street into a shell-loading plant that pressed tetryl pellets for Navy anti-aircraft ammunition, growing from about 126 workers to more than 500; an explosion hit its pellet houses on September 6, 1942. DigitalNC: Bazooka Day Demo, Pellet Houses Explosion Photographs, and More in Latest Batch Centered on National Munitions Corporation · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, June 19, 1942, p. 1; Chapel Hill Weekly, August 14, 1942, p. 1
  9. An explosion at the Carrboro munitions plant kills one worker A blast in a small frame mixing house at the munitions plant in Carrboro, a few minutes before 6 a.m., killed a 29-year-old worker from Durham and slightly injured seven men, most of them from Carrboro and nearby. The Carrboro fire company put out the fire that followed; the explosion shook houses in Chapel Hill as well as Carrboro, and armed guards kept a crowd of anxious relatives outside the plant gates. The Chapel Hill Weekly, September 11, 1942, p. 1
  10. National Munitions plant in Carrboro reaches full payroll-deduction bond buying State payroll-savings chairman Charles H. Robertson was notified on Thanksgiving Day that every employee of the National Munitions Corporation plant in Carrboro had signed up for bond deductions, with ten percent of total wages going into War Bonds, and the Treasury sent the plant its Certificate of Award. People: Charles H. Robertson, Carl T. Durham, W. E. Thompson The Chapel Hill Weekly, December 4, 1942, p. 1
  11. The National Munitions Corporation plant in Carrboro receives the Army-Navy E award Comdr. Merle A. Sawyer of the Navy formally presented the Army-Navy E award for war production to the National Munitions Corporation of Carrboro. The Pre-Flight band played for the ceremony, which many of the school's officers and its entire 14th Battalion attended. Cloudbuster (Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel Hill), January 30, 1943, p. 1
  12. The National Munitions plant in Carrboro wins a star renewing its Army-Navy E The Navy Board for Production Awards renewed the Carrboro plant's Army-Navy E for six more months for continued production and sent a new pennant bearing one star. At the Navy's request there was no ceremony; workers hired since the first award were to receive E pins. The Chapel Hill Weekly, July 16, 1943, p. 4
Show all 22 dated events
  1. Carrboro's National Munitions plant wins the Army-Navy E a third time The Army-Navy E for excellence in production was awarded for the third time to the National Munitions Corporation plant at Carrboro. A letter from Admiral Bloch of the Navy Board for Production Awards to the plant's president praised the workers and said a new pennant bearing two stars was being sent. The News (Chapel Hill), February 3, 1944, p. 1
  2. The National Munitions plant at Carrboro receives the first National Security Award given in North Carolina The U.S. Office of Civilian Defense presented its National Security Award, given for guarding a plant against accidents and sabotage, to the National Munitions Corporation at Carrboro on May 25, 1944, the first such award to a North Carolina firm. Regional director James A. Connor presented the award, general manager M. J. Williams accepted it, Lieutenant Governor R. L. Harris spoke, and the Navy Pre-Flight band played. People: Robert W. Madry The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 25, 1944, p. 1
  3. The National Munitions plant at Carrboro wins a third star for its Army-Navy E flag The National Munitions Corporation's Carrboro plant was awarded a third star for its Army-Navy E for war production, announced in August 1944 in a letter from Admiral C. C. Bloch, chairman of the Navy board of production awards, congratulating every worker in the plant. The plant had been the first in North Carolina to receive the Army-Navy E. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 10, 1944, p. 1
  4. The Carrboro munitions plant wins a fourth renewal of its Army-Navy E The National Munitions Corporation's plant in Carrboro received word from Adm. C. C. Bloch of the Navy Board of Production Awards that it had earned a fourth renewal of the Army-Navy E and a flag with four stars, to keep for a year before its next review. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), January 11, 1945, p. 1
  5. Carrboro munitions workers triple their Seventh War Loan quota in a week In a special emphasis week, workers at the National Munitions Corporation plant in Carrboro bought $42,581.25 in war bonds in six days, against $15,000 set for the week and $29,475 for the whole Seventh War Loan. Harry Breeze's C shift won the contest between shifts, payroll deduction rose from 88 to 92 percent of workers, and the plant earned the Treasury T flag. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), April 26, 1945, p. 1
  6. The National Munitions plant in Mill No. 7 closes The shell-loading plant that National Munitions Corporation had run in Mill No. 7 since 1942 closed when workers coming back from the two-day victory holiday on Friday, August 17, 1945 learned that the Navy had canceled its contracts, leaving about 500 people out of work. At its peak it employed 1,600 people, many of them former mill hands assembling anti-aircraft rounds, and it won the Army-Navy E award for production three times. Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 25 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), August 23, 1945, p. 1
  7. Pacific Mills buys the former munitions plant in Carrboro's Mill No. 7 The deed transferring the National Munitions property in Carrboro, the former Durham Hosiery Mill No. 7, to Pacific Mills, Inc., was filed with the register of deeds. Pacific Mills, which already ran the Carrboro Woolen Mills in old Mill No. 4, planned to renovate the 38,000-square-foot building for woolen and worsted yarn and roughly double its Carrboro output. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), May 30, 1946, p. 1
  8. Carrboro Woolen Mills buys the wartime munitions plant The Carrboro property of National Munitions Corporation, whose plant had employed many county people during the war, had recently been bought by Carrboro Woolen Mills, a division of Pacific Mills. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 25, 1947, p. 1
  9. The government sues Carrboro's National Munitions Corporation over war profits The federal government filed two suits in the Durham division of the middle district federal court asking National Munitions Corporation of Carrboro to repay $2,200,000 in excessive profits on Navy contracts: $1,600,000 for the year ending July 31, 1944, and $600,000 for the next year. The government said the company had paid nothing after the price adjustment boards ruled. The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), September 25, 1947, p. 1
  10. Pacific Mills announces it will close Carrboro Mills Pacific Mills, which had reopened Mill No. 4 as Carrboro Woolen Mills in 1945 and later bought the idle Mill No. 7, announced on June 17, 1958 that Carrboro Mills would shut down within two or three months. The plant was the community's only industry, with 380 workers and a payroll of more than $900,000 a year. By then the university and nearby businesses were taking industry's place as Carrboro's employers. Town of Carrboro: Brown, McSwain and Florin, Carrboro, N.C.: An Architectural and Historical Inventory (1983), p. 25 · Also: The News of Orange County (Hillsborough), June 19, 1958, p. 1

Open these in the chronology →

Indexed works

The index has no works about Carrboro Mill No. 7 itself yet. The surveys and maps below cover where it stands. Search the index for Carrboro Mill No. 7, or tell us about a book or record we have missed.

Surveys and maps of the area

Not about Carrboro Mill No. 7 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.

Carrboro Map [1935]

1935

Hand-drawn map of Carrboro from about 1935, centered on Greensboro Avenue and Weaver Street and marking buildings, lots and the main roads.

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

DigitalNC DPLA

Map of Chapel Hill-Carrboro, N.C.

Gove, John R. · 1958 · Chapel Hill-Carrboro Merchants Association

Robert J. Ayers drew this folding map of Chapel Hill and Carrboro using data gathered by John R. Gove; the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Merchants Association published it under a 1954 copyright. The 1958 printing shows the towns, the University, streets, creeks and country clubs. On the back is text for the Chapel Hill School Art Guild house tour of 30 October 1960, with eleven houses marked in red.

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

UNC State Archives of NC

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 Carrboro Mill No. 7, 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

    • Rebecca Wall Collection · 975.656 OTTO Carrboro Otto, David · 2011

      Pictorial history of Carrboro in Arcadia's Images of America series by David A. Otto and Richard Ellington, published in 2011. Its 127 pages of photographs, maps, facsimiles and portraits cover the town's history, social life and African American community, with a bibliography and index.

    • Rebecca Wall Collection · NC 975.656 OTTO Carrboro Otto, David · 2015

      Second Images of America volume on Carrboro by David A. Otto and Richard Ellington (Arcadia, 2015). Chapters follow the town from mill village to growing urban center, then turn to its merchants, the arts, festivals, changing demographics and changing architecture, in 95 illustrated pages.

    • 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.

    • Start here · NC 720.975 BRO Carrboro, N.C: An Architectural & Historical Inventory Brown, Claudia Roberts · 1983

      Architectural and historical inventory of Carrboro by Claudia Roberts Brown, published in 1983 by the Carrboro Appearance Commission and the town. The 48-page survey, with illustrations and maps, documents the town's historic buildings and their conservation.

    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

    Historic sites, markers, and maps

    Records of the time 17

    Show all 17

    Collections and databases

    Local help 5

    Nearby

    Two mice reading back to back against a leaf, with the hand-lettered words Friends of the Orange County Public Library
    Illustration by Caldecott Medalist Matthew Cordell, gifted to the Friends 2026