Chatham Manufacturing Company

Chatham Manufacturing Company (now Interface Fabrics, Inc.) is a textile mill in located in Elkin, North Carolina and is one of the oldest in North Carolina.

History

The mill was established in the late 1860s by Alexander Chatham and Thomas L. Gwyn. In 1890, the railroad line was completed in Elkin and Chatham and Gwyn enlarged their company, Elkin Mills. Alexander Chatham would later retire from the company and Gwyn would sell his interest in the company to Chatham's son, Hugh Gwyn Chatham. By 1894 the company would be remamed Chatham Manufacturing Company with Hugh Gwyn Chatham as its president.

Growth

A second factory would be built in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1907. During the first part of the century the primary focus of company sales were blankets but by the 1930s the company started producing automotive upholstery. By the 1980s the company had plants located in Eden, North Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina along with the Elkin plant.

Ownership

In 1988, family members and senior management of the company were outbid by the Danish textile firm, Northern Feather. The purchase of the company by Northern Feather would end the 100 year reign the family had over the company. Northern Feather would go bankrupt soon after and the company would be sold to Columbia, South Carolina based CMI Industries, in 1992. Eight years later in 2000, Interface, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia would purchase Chatham Manufacturing.

References

• Powell, William S., The North Carolina Gazetteer: A Dictionary of Tar Heel Places, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 0-8078-1247-1

• Powell, William S., Encyclopedia of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 978-0807830710

Coordinates: 36°14′42″N 80°50′41″W / 36.2449°N 80.8447°W / 36.2449; -80.8447