page_title: Chatham Manufacturing Company
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Chatham Manufacturing Company / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Alexander Chatham lived in Elkin, North Carolina and founded the Chatham Manufacturing Company in 1877. He was a veteran of the American Civil War.
context_page_description: Chatham Manufacturing Company is an American textile brand founded in 1877 that has made automobile upholstery, jeans, and flannels. Its most famous product is the Chatham Blanket. It was the largest blanket manufacturer in the world at its height.
context_section_description: Alexander Chatham went to work as a clerk at the Gwyn Mill in 1858. Richard Gwyn built the grist mill along the Elkin Creek in Elkin North Carolina. It was powered by water from the creek and local farmers brought their corn to him to be ground into flour. Alexander Chatham joined the 21st North Carolina infantry during the Civil war alongside Nathan Gwyn, one of Richard Gwyn's sons. When the war was over they returned to the mill. The mill had a store and was a focal point for trade in the area. Cash was scarce in the area after the Civil War and sheep were abundant, so wool became the most common currency in the local barter economy. The Gwyn Mill had to accept wool in trade, cart it 60 miles away in order to sell the raw fiber which was then sent by rail to distant mills. The amount of wool being traded continued to increase so much that in the 1870s, the company bought a wool carding machine in order to process the wool. It was installed in the grist mill and powered by the same water wheel. This, in turn, brought in more wool from the mountains of North Carolina and the surrounding area. In 1877, Richard Gwyn and Alexander Chatham took over operation of the mill. They added a textile mill to the grist and carding mill and named the operation the “Elkin Valley Woolen Mill”. In the first years of the woolen mill operation, it employed only four people. In 1878, Gwyn and Chatham travelled to Philadelphia and recruited a machinist, Gilvin T Roth.
  In 1890 the railroad arrived in Elkin. The North Carolina Railroad ran along the Yadkin River, and Gwyn and Chatham quickly made plans to move their factory to be alongside it. That same year, Thomas Gwyn sold his interest to Alexander Chatham and the company was renamed the Chatham Manufacturing Company. The new mill no longer needed water power, but instead used steam engines to power generators. The mill made only yarn until 1893 when they began to produce fabrics as well. That was the year that they made the first Chatham Blanket. In 1895 the company started making wool suiting fabric and brought a tailor from New York to make suits.
  
  In 1907 the Chatham Manufacturing company reorganized. They built another factory in Winston-Salem. Alexander's son, Hugh Gwyn Chatham became the president, with R J Reynolds as the vice president. 
  In 1916 Elkin flooded, including the Chatham Manufacturing Company. The flood was devastating to the mill, and the company began work on a new mill on higher ground above the old one. 
  In 1929, Richard Thurmond Chatham took over the company from his father, Hugh Gwyn Chatham. He entered Chatham Manufacturing into the automotive upholstery business in 1936 with interiors for Packard. In 1939 the company moved its Winston-Salem Factory to Elkin to have everything in a single Place. Richard Thurmond Chatham was a naval officer and commanded a cruiser, the USS Phoenix, during World War 2. While he was at sea, the company produced blankets for the armed forces and was awarded the Army/ Navy Award of Excellence for wartime production.
caption: Alexander Chatham
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