Wafco mills history and biography
Wafco Mills Collection
NOTE: The numbers cited in parentheses, e.g. , refer the researcher to the Series#:Folder# in which that name/topic will be found.
INTRODUCTION
This collection focuses on Wafco Mills during the early to mid-twentieth century. Owned and operated by four generations of the Watson family, the company established the first roller mill in Greensboro.
It produced flour, corn meal, and later animal feed in its complex at the corner of McGee and Cedar streets. The collection includes blueprints, product bags, correspondence, photographs, and printed materials. Researchers interested in Greensboro businesses or milling operations may find it useful.
Arrangement: This collection is organized into five series and arranged within series by document type or subject.
The series are: Correspondence, ; Drawings, ; Miscellaneous, ca.
; Photographs, ca. ; and Printed Materials, ca.
Provenance: This collection was donated by Margaret J. Watson, the wife of former Wafco vice president John C. Watson Jr. (), in July and assigned accession number
Processing: This collection was organized and the finding aid was prepared by volunteer Amelia Leuschen in August
HISTORICAL NOTE
W.A.
Watson Jr. and brother-in-law Tom P. North established North and Watson mill in Located on the corner of McGee and Cedar streets, the company was the first roller mill in Greensboro, and produced flour and corn meal. After Tom North left the company in , selling his portion to W.A. Watson Sr., the business changed its name to W.A.
Watson & Co. The name changed again when W.A. Watson Jr. purchased his father’s shares in , this time to Greensboro Roller Mills. In , John C. Watson Jr., the grandson of W.A. Watson Jr., opened a feed mill named Watson Feed Co. at Hughes St.; it relocated to N. Forbis St. a few years later.
The two companies consolidated in , and the feed mill moved to the site at the corner of McGee and Cedar streets. (According to a brief history in the collection, a new building was constructed for the feed mill, but the Sanborn maps do not show such a building.) Around this time, the company name changed a final time to Wafco (Watson Flour/Feed Company) Mills, Inc.
The mill closed in and sold its brand names to a High Point company. The complex, consisting of an frame building and and brick additions, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in By , the North Carolina National Bank Community Development Corporation and College Hill Development Company had converted it into apartments that soon became condominiums.
Historical sources: Most of the historical information was obtained from the historical sketches and other materials in the collection.
Additional information was incorporated from the Greensboro city directories, Sanborn Fire Insurance Survey maps, National Register of Historic Places Nomination (; ), and the newspaper article titled, “Flood of June 3 overturns lives in Wafco Mills” (News & Record, June 13, ).
SCOPE & CONTENT NOTE
Types of materials in this collection include blueprints, correspondence, a map, photographs, product bags, and printed materials.
Most items in this collection relate to Wafco Mills and its predecessors, W.A.
Watson & Co., Greensboro Roller Mills, and Watson Feed Co. Many materials are promotional, including mailings and a newsletter (, , ). Images of the company buildings appear in photographs, on advertisements, and on letterhead (, , ). Noteworthy items in the collection include blueprints for the building at the corner of McGee and Cedar streets (), an advertisement with recipes using Greensboro Roller Mills products (), and unused Wafco Mills product bags ().
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
1.
Correspondence. 3 folders (4 items).
The correspondence primarily relates to advertising.
Wafco mills history and biography wikipedia The College Hill neighborhood was designated as a National Register Historic District in click here to read the nomination. Wafco Mills, a grain mill, opened in By the late s the neighborhood and the city realized the historic and cultural value that was being lost. Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.One letter on Watson Feed Co. letterhead, sent in , lists prices for various types of animal feed, while another, dated , urges customers to browse an enclosed brochure about the company’s winter rye grass seed and lawn fertilizers (). A letter from the Black Diamond Trailer Company states that photos of a Watson Feed Co.
trailer used in its advertising are enclosed (; see for one of those photos). The final letter concerns Wafco Mills’ sponsorship of the WBIG morning radio program Poole’s Paradise in ().
2. Drawings. 1 folder (6 items).
This series contains four blueprints that show the layout of all four floors of the building at the corner of McGee and Cedar streets in Also included are nearly identical and diagrams of the milling process.
3.
Miscellaneous.
Wafco mills history and biography book: Its collection of milling machinery remained largely intact at the time of Greensboro's most interesting residences. People are also reading…. At the time of its listing the mill retained most of the original machinery. Top Qs.
2 folders (7 items). ca.
The miscellaneous items include a map of Greensboro at its sesquicentennial in () and six unused Wafco Mills product packages ().
4. Photographs.
Wafco mills history and biography pdf College Hill remains a work in progress. It will help finance repairs to the mill's two old buildings built in and It's a way of saving old buildings with strong sentimental appeal by finding new uses for them. Now, thanks to recent action by the City Council and the Guilford County Historic Properties Commissions, the mill is an official county historic landmark.2 folders (19 items). ca.
The photographs relate primarily to Wafco Mills. Of particular interest is a photo that shows the frame building alone on the site at the corner of McGee and Cedar streets.
Wafco mills history and biography Terms of Service Privacy Policy. Cross November The difference will go into a special Wafco account. RetrievedThree later photos show company delivery trucks, while nine depict displays of Feather Soft Flour in a window at the Hotel, in stores, and being used to make food for a crowd. Also included is a photograph of five women and one man with a WBIG microphone (). In addition, the series contains five images of the Watson Feed Co. building at N.
Forbis St. and that company’s vehicles ().
5. Printed Materials. 5 folders (25 items). ca.
The printed materials consist of advertisements, historical sketches, unused letterhead, a newsletter, and receipt books. All five advertisements were produced by W.A. Watson & Co., proprietors of Greensboro Roller Mills, in the early twentieth century.
History and biography sociology Wikiwand for Chrome. This historic property was originally constructed as the home of the milling enterprise North, Watson and Company. The complex consists of a four-story frame building built in and expanded in , with two four-story brick buildings built in and The mill closed as a business in and was converted to 28 residential condominiums inOf particular interest are an ad for Watson’s Purity featuring a face that changes if the card is turned upside down, and a pamphlet providing recipes using Greensboro Roller Mills products (). Documents pertaining to the history of Wafco Mills and its predecessors include two brief histories of the mill and one excerpt from The Gate City, Greensboro typed on Wafco Mills letterhead.
A Greensboro Record article discusses plans to repurpose the building, and a North Carolina National Bank report recounts plans to convert it into apartments (). Three versions of Greensboro Roller Mills letterhead include two with images of the building, while the third has no images and is on lined paper (). The newsletter, published by Watson Feed Co.
in December , discusses types of feed and presents customer reviews. It is titled The “WAFCO” Feed Merchant (). The company would be renamed Wafco Mills a few years later. This series also contains receipt books representing Greensboro Roller Mills, Watson Feed Co., and Wafco Mills, as well as two blank receipts from Greensboro Flour and Feed Co.
().
FOLDER LISTING
| Series | Folder | Contents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Correspondence | -- Black Diamond Trailer Company () |
| 2 | -- Watson Feed Company () | ||
| 3 | -- WBIG () | ||
| 2 | 1 | Drawings | -- Blueprints () |
| 3 | 1 | Miscellaneous | -- Map () |
| 2 | -- Product Bags (ca.
) | ||
| 4 | 1 | Photographs | -- Wafco Mills (ca. ) |
| 2 | -- Watson Feed Co. (ca. s) | ||
| 5 | 1 | Printed Materials | -- Advertisements (ca. ) |
| 2 | -- History (ca. s) | ||
| 3 | Printed Materials | -- Letterhead (ca.
) | |
| 4 | -- Newsletter () | ||
| 5 | -- Receipt Books (ca. ss) |