Harmony Grove Mills Records, 1882-1994

Summary

Creator:
Harmony Grove Mills (Ga.)
Date:
1882-1994
Extent:
108 box(es) (87.5 linear feet)
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Harmony Grove Mills Records, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia, 30602-1641.

Background

Scope and content:

The Harmony Grove Mills Records document the founding of the mill in 1893, its operations for nearly a century, its sale to Mount Vernon Mills in 1991, and its employees and members of the Commerce community. The collection includes original and drafts of the corporate charter, board of directors minutes, property records and plats for mill locations and facilities, payroll and time books for employees, ledgers documenting production and sales, as well as consulting reports assessing Harmony Grove's financial health.

Biographical / historical:

Harmony Grove Mills, Inc. was a cotton manufacturing corporation founded on April 3, 1893, in Harmony Grove (later re-named Commerce), Jackson County, Georgia, by Lamartine G. Hardman, an area physician, brothers G. W. D. and W. T. Harber and other members of the local business community to spur industrial growth in northeast Georgia. The corporation was chartered with a capital stock of $50,000 in June of the same year; the real estate property was purchased from Hardman and Mrs. W. S. Webb at $75 to $100 per acre.

The founding officers of the company were President G. W. D. Harber, Vice President W. B. J. Hardman, and Secretary-Treasurer C. J. Hood, with board members Hardman, T. E. Key, C. W. Hood, C. D. Stark, W. T. Harber, W. B. Hardman, and W. T. Thurmond. Harber served as president from 1893 through 1899. In 1898, Hardman bought out the majority share of the corporation from the Harber Brothers and became president the next year. He was succeeded by Lamartine Hardman, Jr. (1937-1978) and then Lamartine Hardman III (1978-1991).

The original 15,000-square-foot mill facility was designed by W. T. Thurmond, the first plant foreman, and furnished with 60 40-inch looms. Harmony Grove produced its first cotton sheeting on May 25, 1894, purchased by buyer T. E. Key, and paid its first dividends of 6% to stockholders on June 10, 1895.

Enlarged several times, first in 1902 and then in 1923 and 1941, Harmony Grove operated 586 looms and employed more than 500 workers at the time of its fiftieth anniversary. By 1950, the original site was expanded to 130,000 square feet. To house its many employees, Harmony Grove constructed a mill village. As of 2016, these houses make up a large portion of homes in the southeast part of Commerce. In the mid-1950s, the company purchased a competing mill location in Cleveland, Georgia, to further increase production. Throughout its operation, Harmony Grove was a leading supplier of yarn and unfurnished bottom weight fabric, especially the kind used to produce industrial work uniforms and denim overalls, among other products.

Economic decline in the late 1980s led to job cuts, and by 1990, Harmony Grove employed just 270 workers. In 1991, Greenville, South Carolina-based Mount Vernon Mills purchased Harmony Grove. As a major supplier of cloth for Mount Vernon's Apparel Fabrics division, Harmony Grove was an attractive acquisition for the company. Harmony Grove's facilities in Commerce and Cleveland remained fully operational until 2004 when Mount Vernon closed several locations. The original mill building in Commerce remains an important historic and aesthetic landmark for the community.

Arrangement:

The records are arranged in four series: I. Administrative and Financial, II. Employees, III. Production and Sales, and IV. Equipment and Facilities.

Access and use restrictions

Restrictions:

This collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Library acts as "fair use" reproduction agent.

Before material from collections at the Richard B. Russell Library may be quoted in print, or otherwise reproduced, in whole or in part, in any publication, permission must be obtained from (1) the owner of the physical property, and (2) the holder of the copyright. It is the particular responsibility of the researcher to obtain both sets of permissions. Persons wishing to quote from materials in the Russell Library collection should consult the Director. Reproduction of any item must contain a complete citation to the original.

Preferred citation:

Harmony Grove Mills Records, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia, 30602-1641.