George Robert Hall (1896-1971) and Chatham Manufacturing Company

                                                       George Robert Hall with hat with the Chatham's
Fred Norman a prominent Elkin businessman told me that Chatham  's had many men employed with engineering degrees but none could compare to my grandfather. He said that Bob came to Chatham's and standardized all of the many different kinds of looms that they had so that all the loom fixers could work on them. My grandfather was in charge of the Weave Room and over the loom fixers. He also schooled and gave classes for the fixers. He just had a great mechanical mind for machinery. I remember him more in his retired life being able to create many things. He didn't go to the hardware store for things he just made his own. He could also take apart a lawnmower and put it back together. In his retired life he loved to hunt and fish. The Chatham's gave him special privileges to hunt and fish on their many properties. Many times he took me along. Before coming to Chatham's in 1934 he in his early years was a farmer from Patrick County Virginia and then moved to Draper Mills in Rockingham County in North Carolina. His father in law John Hopper (1859-1930) was a well known Draper Pioneer in textiles. When the Great Depression came he and his family relocated to Swannanoa North Carolina in Buncombe County just outside of Asheville and worked at Beacon Manufacturing Company until 1934. His brother in law George Hopper was working at Chatham's and was going to move back to Draper and he recommended my grandfather to Chatham's to take his place. When you go to the Beacon Manufacturing plant now it is just a big empty field. My grandfather worked for Chatham's until he retired. He also patented several of the shuttle type looms for Chatham's.

  
                                            George Robert Hall at head of table with the Chatham's at Luncheon

TEXTILE TOWN, (song) by Keith Hall

I wrote the song TEXTILE TOWN (Ghosts Cry Out From the Looms) because it comes from my experiences of living in the small town of Elkin North Carolina.
It is about Chatham Manufacturing Company and my grandfather George Robert Hall who retired from there. My grandfather had eight brothers and sisters and were farmers in Patrick County Virginia. My grandfather was the eldest of the family and left his home in Patrick County and moved to Draper North Carolina where he met my grandmother Nannie Hopper Hall and he worked in the Draper Mills. Later my grandfather's siblings and his dad John Curtis Hall all left the farm in Patrick County Virginia to work in the mills at Draper North Carolina. All of my grandfather's family and my grandmother's family were textile people and retired from what was called Fieldcrest Cannon. When the depression came my grandfather had moved to the town of  Swannanoa North Carolina close to Asheville and worked for Beacon Manufacturing Company. I have been there and the factory has been leveled where it once stood. The Chatham family gave my grandfather the opportunity to come to their factory in Elkin North Carolina in 1934 and placed him over the Weave Room because he had the great ability of fixing looms where he also patented some looms for them and standardized the looms for them. He educated the other men to do the same where they could all work on the looms.

The second World War came and men were enlisting to go fight in the war an act of patriotism that we don't see in this day and time and my Uncle George Curtis Hall enlisted and left home where he too worked at Chatham Manufacturing Company. He was in the 80th General Hospital and never made it to the Philippines where he was to be deployed but died of a kidney disease in California and was transported back home to my grandfather and grandmother and they were devastated. He is buried in Hollywood Cemetery in Elkin and there is a plaque at the Elkin Municipal Park with his name on it along with all the others who died in the War for the Chatham Employees and their families. Chatham Manufacturing did real well during the war effort because they supplied the blankets for the war.
Since 1988 the Company has been sold and has changed ownersip several times currently being owned by a company today called True Textiles and only a small portion of the facility is being used.
Most of the buildings where people spent their livelihood are standing empty compared to the giant it was back before 1988.

Textile Town (Ghost Cry Out From the Looms)

Eight brothers and sisters grew up on a farm
We worked in the fields each day
Then the mills came and gave us a job
To weave and spin was our way

The Depression came and the mill didn't fall
We new how to live from our past
As farmers before we knew how to plow
How long would this Depression last

Chorus

Textile town where have you
gone
The mill that blessed us with food
Greed sent all of our jobs to
a foreign land
And the ghosts cry out from the looms

The Second War came our sons went away
Their mothers grieved their loss
Some never came home but the
blankets were made
The war and their lives was the cost

Chorus

One day I came home and our mill
was sold
Our jobs was sent overseas
Now I drive a hundred miles
to feed my family

Chorus

© 2016 Keith Hall

Hugh Chatham Memorial Bridge, Elkin NC, 1931-2010

Many years ago as a young boy growing up in a small town, namely Jonesville, NC in Yadkin County, my grandma Nannie Hopper Hall would take us for walks. Grandpa had his driver's license but grandma never learned how to drive so we would walk every day from Jonesville where they resided to Elkin NC. The two small towns were divided by the great Yadkin River, another story for another time. We would begin our stroll on North Bridge Street and walk down by the Northwestern Bank, then by Roses Village Motel where grandma must have known someone that worked there because she would always stop and talk. Then we would stroll across the Hugh Chatham Memorial Bridge which crosses over the Yadkin River. Our journey would always end up at Roses 5 and 10 cent Store where they had a counter full of hot cashews and peanuts. There was also all types of candy that you could buy by the pound. Grandma would always buy a pound of something and share it with us. A few years ago the bridge was condemned by the state for vehicles and for the last few years has been used as a walking bridge. This year however the death sentence has be sent out to take the bridge down on July 26th. DLB Inc from Hillsville, Va got the contract and has already begun moving in the heavy equiptment. The old icon is going to be torn down along with all the old memories. We also don't want to forget who it was a memorial for. Hugh Chatham one of the pillars and owners of Chatham Manufacturing Company in Elkin, NC. They were a major employer and provided a lot of jobs for the people of Elkin and the surrounding area. The Chatham Family generously did so much for this town and now that is being torn down. My grandma, grandpa, dad and mom all worked for the Chatham's. Bye, Bye Hugh Chatham Bridge.