Cannon Mills Company

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The Cannon Mills Company was an American textile company founded by James William Cannon, based in Kannapolis, North Carolina. It was founded in 1888 and went bankrupt in July of 2003.

A photograph of the main offices of the Pillowtex Corporation, shortly before demolition in July of 2005.

1 Name of Company
2 History
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Name of Company

Cannon Mills was purchased four times, and had four names.

Cannon Manufacturing Company (1888–1921)
Cannon Mills Company (1921–1983)
Fieldcrest-Cannon Corporation (1983–2001)
Pillowtex Corporation (2001–2003)

[edit] History

[edit] Cannon Manufacturing Company

In 1888, James William Cannon founded the Cannon Manufacturing Company in Concord, North Carolina. His goal was to produce a basic textile product instead of yarn making or a product in which another company could produce. His company produced towels that were sold under the brand name “Cannon Towels”. Ten years later, he opened another mill in Concord, North Carolina.

In the year 1905, Jim Cannon designed and purchased six-hundred acres of land in northwestern Cabarrus County. The land was formerly used as a cotton plantation. He laid out a plan for a small mill village with homes for the workers. By 1907, the first mill was completed just west of what was Town Lake. The mill, known now as Plant 1, was opened in 1908 after a brief two-year cotton shortage.

By January of the next year, the Cannon Manufacturing Company had employed 840 people in its single Kannapolis plant. James William and his company not only built hundreds of homes for the mill workers, but also a world-class YMCA facility. At that period, it held the largest membership in the world. He also donated land and money for school construction and education. That year, the first school, McIver was opened. Cannon erected stores, businesses, and churches. Cannon also donated funds to the Cabarrus County Government to improve the main road leading to Kannapolis from Concord. In 1917, James Cannon arranged a life insurance policy for all Cannon employees. This had never yet been done for employees of a company.

1921 was an important year for the Cannon Mills Company. J.W. Cannon was recently elected as Chairman of the Board and his son, Charles Albert, was made president of the Company. Later that year, Jim Cannon developed an unknown illness in the winter of 1921. He was reported dead at 6:00pm on December 21, 1921. Ironically, he died at the same time as when the afternoon whistle blows for quitting time at the mill. He was buried at Oakhill Cemetery in downtown Concord. The Cannon Manufacturing Company was left to its president and the youngest son, Charles. By the time of J.W. Cannon’s death, the population of Kannapolis was roughly 6,000 citizens and the mill had employed about 15,000 workers.

[edit] The company grows

With Charles Albert Cannon in charge, the Cannon Mills Corporation was now entering it's golden years. In 1924, funds and land for James William Cannon High School were donated from the company. Later in 1928, Charles Cannon organized nine textile companies into a large corporation, Cannon Mills. 300,000 towels were produced each day, and it soon became the world's largest producer of Textile products. Charles Cannon retired in 1962 at the age of seventy-years old. Donald S. Holt replaced Cannon as chairman of the board, and sales and profit continued to rise. The one-million-square-foot towel distribution center was built in 1962 and the 840,000sq ft. sheet distribution center was constructed in the early 70's. Charles A. Cannon died on April 1, 1971 of a massive stroke.

[edit] Fieldcrest

In 1911, Marshall Field & Company, the Chicago department store, acquired seven mills in Eden, North Carolina (then known as Spray) from Benjamin Franklin Mebane, a local entrepreneur who had secured financing from Field's. In 1916, Field's began construction on Fieldcrest Mills in Fieldale, a 1,600 acre mill town near Martinsville, Virginia, which was completed in 1919. Field's later purchased more mills to supply its retail and wholesale operation. In 1935, James O. McKinsey, then chairman of Marshall Field's, the Chicago department store, reorganized Field's 24 textile mills into one manufacturing operation, called Fieldcrest, with headquarters in New York City. In 1953, Fieldcrest was spun off from Field's.

[edit] Fieldcrest-Cannon Corporation and Pillowtex

In 1982, the Cannon Mills Company and it's 660 acres of surrounding property were purchased by Californian billionare, David Murdock. Murdock proposed a redevelopment plan to the company and the community,such as the renewal of downtown Kannapolis (now Cannon Village) and for the construction of a brand new YMCA. On November 6, 1984, The Town of Kannapolis was officially incorporated, becoming The City of Kannapolis. Also that year, David Murdock constructed a brand new YMCA. Later, in the next year, the company and all of its Bath and Bedding division were bought by Eden, North Carolina-founded Fieldcrest Mills, Incorporated, for somewhat less than $250,000,000. This became the Fieldcrest-Cannon Corporation. The newer smokestack of Plant One, painted white since its construction in 1950, was repainted maroon, also bearing the corporate name. Many union problems resulted after the purchase.

In September, 1997, Fieldcrest-Cannon was sold to the Pillowtex Corporation for $700,000,000. Sales slid, and problems began to appear as Pillowtex lost money. Three years later, in November of 2000, Pillowtex filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection. In May, 2002, Pillowtex surfaced from bankruptcy.

On July 30, 2003, Pillowtex Corporation announced the complete bankruptcy of the company. Over the night of July 30, 7,650 people became unemployed (4,340 in Kannapolis alone). This was the largest permanent layoff in the history of the State of North Carolina. The bankruptcy announcement also included an agreement for Pillowtex assets to be sold to GGST LLC, a joint venture of four liquidation companies (SB Capital Group, Gibbs International, Gordon Brothers Retail Partners and Tiger Capital Group), for $56 million, subject to bankruptcy-court approval. ^[1]

[edit] Post-bankruptcy

On October 7, 2003, Pillowtex won approval from a bankruptcy court judge to sell company assets, including machinery and brands, to GGST LLC for $128 million. The brands "Cannon", "Royal Velvet", "Charisma", and "Fieldcrest" are now listed as intellectual property of SB Capital, or it's principals. The "Cannon" and "Royal Velvet" brands have been licensed by Li & Fung, headquartered in Hong Kong. A new RoyalVelvet.com has reappeared on the web. "Fieldcrest" branded products have reappeared as "exclusively at Target".

On December 10, 2004, it was announced David H. Murdock's Castle & Cooke won the 264-acre land auction with a bid of $6.4 million ($4.25 million in cash and a $2.12 million note).

[edit] Demolition

Beginning in June of 2005, workers of the D.H. Griffin Wrecking Company began the demolition of Plant 1, an area the size of the Pentagon. In November of 2005, the eastern half of the Towel Distribution Center was imploded, and the main office building was completely demolished by the end of the year. Town Lake was drained and filled in.

On March 24, 2006, the remaining portion of the Towel Distribution Center and the Bleachery were imploded. Over 1.2 million square feet was demolished, making it the third largest building implosion in U.S history. A few months later, on August 10, the smokestacks were imploded. On November 8, of that year, the 268-foot water tower was demolished, officially ending the Cannon Mills era.