County of site: Carroll County
Location of mill: Bradley St. & Mill St., Carrollton
"The Lawler Hosiery Mill is a small one- and two-story mill located in downtown Carrollton, adjacent to
city hall and one block south of the town square. Built in 1934, the main mill is a two-story, steelframed brick building built with the "slow-burn" construction method that had become standard for
mill buildings by the first decades of the 20th century. The six-bay main facade is crowned with a
triangular pediment that mirrors the shallow pitch of the gable roof. The north and south walls are
lined with large, steel factory windows. Although the original 1933 plans called for cast-iron columns,
the interior is supported by two rows of steel posts bolted to steel beams, which are corbeled into the
load-bearing brick walls. The roof is formed of wood planks and the floors are made of durable
maple tongue-and-groove boards laid over splined planks of yellow pine. The building is protected
from fire by an overhead sprinkler system.
"The smaller Double Eagle Mill at the rear of the lot is a one-story brick mill building. As the oldest
building on the property, in operation by 1931, the mill is framed with heavy timbers. It is covered
with a shallow-pitched gable roof and the floors are made wood. Large, steel-framed factory
windows line the east and west walls of the building. In the last decades of the 20th century, the main
mill and the Double Eagle Mill were joined by a small concrete-block hyphen, which has since been
removed.
History/Historic content:
"The Lawler Hosiery Mill was founded by Thomas Jackson Lawler Tom Lawler was born in Fulton
County on September 14,1893 and died November 13, 1970 in Carroll County. After the death of
his father he went to work at ten years of age at a hosiery mill in Dallas to support his mother and
sisters. He earned $6 per week for 60 hours of labor. He gained experience in mills in Tennessee,
North Carolina, and Mississippi. In 1919, he married to Mary Watson Nalley of Villa Rica. Lawler
was a community leader, mayor of Carrollton, active in church and civic organizations, served on the
board of directors of local businesses, and maintained a lifelong interest in improving agricultural
practices.
"In April 1926, the Lawler Hosiery Mill began operations with 35 machines on the lower floor of the W.
J. Stewart Building in Carrollton, one block northeast of the lot on Bradley Street where the main mill
was later built. T. J. Lawler incorporated the company in December 9, 1926. Land for the current
Lawler Hosiery Mill building was purchased on June 1931. The deed makes no mention of an
existing building. In October 1931, the Double Eagle Mill purchased a small parcel at the rear of the
lot where it operated in a one-story building until 1939. The 1931 deed, which identifies the back
(west) building, suggests that it was either complete or under construction between June and
October 1931. Lawler co-owned three mills in Carrollton, the Lawler Hosiery Mill, Indian, and the
Double Eagle Mill.
"In 1934, Lawler built the main two-story hosiery mill that fronts Bradley Street. The back building,
which housed the Double Eagle Mill, through 1939, was leased to the Maryon Hosiery Mill. Maryon
operated in the rear building through the early 1940s, when it moved to Aycock Street, a mile west of Bradley. During the 1940s, Lawler established two chenille companies under the trade names,
Royal Chenille and Bon Air Apprel. By 1940, Royal Chenille, manufacturers of bathroom sets,
bedspreads, and rugs, occupied the rear building formerly the Double Eagle Mill. Bon Air Apparel
came later in a second rear building adjacent to the building that housed Royal Chenille. This
building is no longer extant. During World War II, one half of all production was given to the war
effort. In 1947, 80 percent of the mill's 400 workers were women. Lighting and ventilation were
improved with fluorescent lights and modern heating and cooling systems that maintained constant
temperatures year around. By 1962, the mill employed just over 200 workers. The next year, the mill
purchased the adjoining lot to the north and in the 1970s built a steel-framed warehouse. In 1978,
the company nearly folded when Trimfit, a Philadelphia-based company, bought the mill. Socks
remained the company's most important product, which it manufactured until the mill closed in 1995.
"The close proximity of Lawler Hosiery Mill to downtown Carrollton and residential neighborhoods
precluded the need for a traditional mill workers village in which the mill constructed worker houses,
schools, churches, and other community buildings. After World War II, 30 percent of the work force
lived outside the city limits of Carrollton. Lawler Mill, like most mills of the period, maintained a
patriarchal relationship with its workers, providing recreational activities, such as a semi-professional
baseball team, the Lawler Bees, which played other regional manufacturing plants. The company
maintained a baseball field, which no longer exists, on the vacant north side of its property." ~ NRHP Nomination Form
" ... Lawler Hosiery Mill, located at 301 Bradley Street (GNAHRGIS
250897), was listed in 2004. The Mill was rehabilitated as loft apartments in the late 1990s and
certified by the Technical Preservation Services Branch of the National Park Service in 2002. With
the exception of the mill ... "
"The Carrollton Downtown Historic District survey encompasses all resources within the 2007
National Register boundaries, as well as two additional resources, the former Lawler Hosiery Mill
(GNAHRGIS 250897), which was listed on the National Register in 2004, and is rehabilitated for
residential lofts; and a large Colonial Revival-style office building (GNAHRGIS 250891) constructed
c.1890, and which is identified on the 1900 Sanborn map. These resources were included due to their
close proximity to the district.
" ... The Lawler Lofts, formerly the Lawler Hosiery Mills, presently function as multi-family
residential; however, this resource is located outside of the boundaries of the National Register-listed
historic district, but included as part of this survey area." ~ Historical Resources Survey of Carrollton