The Cotton Mill Village Turned City: A Retrospective Analysis of Three of Georgia’s Smallest Cities

In the latter part of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries, the dominance of the cotton economy was reflected in the growth of textile mills throughout the U.S. South. In Georgia, the number of cotton mills doubled between 1860 and 1900, providing work for down-on-their-luck shar...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of urban history 2014-09, Vol.40 (5), p.917-932
Main Authors: Wickersham, Mary Eleanor, Yehl, Robert P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
19th century
20th century
Cities
Citizen Participation
Citizens
Consolidation
Cotton
Counties
Georgia
Industrial towns
Mills
Nineteenth Century
Sharecroppers
Twentieth Century
U.S.A
Values
Villages
Workers
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Summary:In the latter part of the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries, the dominance of the cotton economy was reflected in the growth of textile mills throughout the U.S. South. In Georgia, the number of cotton mills doubled between 1860 and 1900, providing work for down-on-their-luck sharecroppers who needed a regular paycheck. A few of these geographically tiny mill villages, built by mill owners to house the influx of mill workers, were incorporated into official cities in the first two decades of the twentieth century and continue to exist today, despite their small size, economic challenges, and efforts at consolidation. This article examines three of these Georgia mill villages-turned-cities: Aldora in Lamar County, Payne City in Bibb County, and Riverside in Colquitt County. The research focuses on why these cities, adjacent to or within another city, incorporated in the first place and why they continue to maintain governments that at first glance appear to provide little added value to their citizens.
ISSN:0096-1442
1552-6771
DOI:10.1177/0096144214533080