page_title: Cannon Mills
section_title: Early years and development
hierarchical_section_title: Cannon Mills / History / Early years and development
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: upliftserial132852ston (find matches) Title: The uplift (serial) Year: 1909 (1900s) Authors: Stonewall Jackson Manual Training and Industrial School (Concord, N.C.) Subjects: Stonewall Jackson Manual Training and Industrial School (Concord, N.C.) Reformatories Juvenile detention homes Publisher: Concord, N.C.&#160;: Board of Trustees of the Stonewall Jackson Manual Training and Industrial School Contributing Library: University Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Digitizing Sponsor: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: eof this great city of spindles, withits mills among the best in the world,was a barren, unproductive stretchof improverished farm land. Todayit is a modern, sanitary, beautifulindustrial city of 10,000 prosperous and contented people. With eightsplendid manufacturing plants, with185,000 spindles and 5,000 looms turn-ing out daily approximately 45,000dozen towels and millions of yardsof splendid fabrics of various kinds;with two fine grammar schools andone high school building unsurpassedby anything in the state; with splen-did churches; with places of amuse-ment and entertainment; and withthis magnificent structure, with allmodern facilities for the developmentof the mincl, heart and the body-—aY. M. C. A. building that would bea credit to any city of 100,000 inhabit-ants. If a weary traveler lost in a des-ert should, just before closing histired and burning eyes in sleep, lookaround as far as the eye could seeand behold nothing but vast stretch-es of sand dunes, with an occasional Text Appearing After Image: JAMES WILLIAM CANNON. In whose memory the $200,000 Y was erected by the Cannon Manufac-turing Company for the benefit and pleasure of the magic city, which heconceived and huilded. THE UPLIFT 9 * Mr. C. A. Cannons Statement. As my father, the late James * William Cannon, of Concord, * North Carolina, who planned * and built and, until his death, * directed the successful opera- * tion of the mills making up * the community known as Kan- * napolis, recognized the wisdom * of caring for the spiritual * mental, physical and social wel- * fare of the employees of the * mills and directed or assist- * ed in directing the Young * Mens Christian Association, * school, and church building * when the original mills were * built; and as the Y. M. C. A., * at Kannapolis, has outgrown * its quarters, the directors and * officers of the Cannon Manu- * facturing Company, in keep- * ing with the policy of the late * James William Cannon, con- * sidered it wise and to the best * interests of the comp Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: The Cannon Mills Company was an American textile manufacturing company based in Kannapolis, North Carolina, that mainly
  produced towels and bed sheets. Founded in 1887 by James William Cannon, by 1914 the company was the largest towel and sheets manufacturer in the world.
  Cannon remained family-owned until 1982 when it was sold to Fieldcrest, becoming "Fieldcrest-Cannon". The recently formed company was sold to Pillowtex Corporation in 1997, which went into bankruptcy in July 2003. The remaining Cannon brands were then purchased by the Iconix Brand Group, which owns the Cannon name nowadays.
context_section_description: In 1887 James William Cannon founded the Cannon Manufacturing Company in Kannapolis, 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 1905, Jim Cannon designed and purchased 600 acres (2.4 km²) of land in northwestern Cabarrus County, North Carolina. 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 Cannon and his company built hundreds of homes for the mill workers, and also a world-class YMCA facility. At that time, it had 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. A strike occurred in the localized Charlotte, North Carolina area, affecting all textile mills in this area. Charles A. Cannon was already in charge of Cannon Mills affairs, since his father was trying to recuperate from ill health. The correspondence between James W. Cannon and his son reveal that Charles was doing an exemplary job handling affairs and not recognizing the union activities. On June 1, 1921, the members of the United Textile Workers Union of America went on strike. Employees starved as the union failed to support the strikers. Although Cannon called the National Guard to "keep the peace," the strike ended because union official fled town after union corruption. Cannon Mills did not unionize during this attempt, which left the whole World War I generation skeptical of labor unions.
  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 and died on December 21, 1921. He was buried at Oakwood 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.
caption: James W. Cannon, founder
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