History

Lincoln Mills’ historical importance is invigorating and inspiring, spanning and exemplifying, possibly as no other buildings in the city, the transition of Huntsville from a ubiquitous cotton mill town to the “Rocket City.”

In 1901, Madison Spinning Company laid the foundation for a mill on the west side of the railroad tracks across from Dallas Manufacturing. This operation became insolvent and ceased operation in 1906, and the property reopened in 1908 as Abingdon Mill. In 1918, it was purchased by William Lincoln Barrell of Lowell, MA, and was known from that time until 1955 as Lincoln Mills of Alabama.

 

After the purchase, Lincoln Mills underwent a tremendous building program, with Mill #3 being built in 1927 and the Finishing Plant (Dye House) being built in 1929-1930. The mill complex grew to a substantial size, approaching 800,000 square feet, and was the largest of the seven major Huntsville cotton mills.

 

After a series of strikes, the property ceased operation as cotton textile mills in 1955, closing its 54-year history in that capacity.

 

The four mills, and their accessory buildings such as the Well House, Chemical Vault and the Dye House, did not sit empty for long. In February 1957, Huntsville Industrial Associates, an alliance of 35 local business and government leaders led by Carl T. Jones, purchased the property, renamed it the “Huntsville Industrial Center,” and immediately saw positive returns on their investment when Brown Engineering, a Huntsville firm expanding through government contracts, leased the former Mill #3. Milton Cummings was president of Brown Engineering, and had grown up in the Lincoln Mill Village. In July 1958, Chrysler, which had won the contract to construct the Army’s Jupiter rocket, decided to locate in the Industrial Center as well, occupying the former Mill #2.

 

Additional contractors serving the space and military industrial complex located in the revived and repurposed Huntsville Industrial Center, which became locally known as the “HIC” building. Much work occurred at the H.I.C. that was instrumental in helping put men on the Moon. Over time, however, these companies, including NASA, relocated either to Redstone Arsenal or the new Research Park that was developed on Huntsville’s western edge in the cotton fields that formerly supplied cotton to Lincoln Mills. As these companies left, their space was either abandoned, or rented as storage, small office and light industrial.

 

The largest fire in Huntsville’s history destroyed much of the complex in February, 1980. However, Mill #3 and the Dye House, the last of the complex to be built and conceived and built as “fire proof”, fulfilled their design intent and survived the fire. The Well House and Chemical Vault were on the southernmost side of the site, and these, along with the Lincoln Mills Headquarters Office, survived as well. After the fire, upon realizing how difficult and expensive it would be to demolish the remaining structures due to their heavy concrete construction, these remaining buildings were sold to a tenant, Robin Ebaugh, who had an operation in one of the mill buildings that had burned. The family partnership led by Robin Ebaugh owned the property for the next quarter-of-a-century (1982-2007.) Robin single-handedly marketed, managed, and maintained the property. Some of the work that he performed largely by himself was border-line Herculean. For instance, in an effort to conserve energy, coupled with a lack of funds to restore the large number of rolled-steel and glass windows, Robin fabricated and installed sheet metal coverings on each opening, often laboring in the evening by floodlight.

 

Lincoln Mills was sold by the Ebaughs in 2007 to a new family partnership, led by Jim Byrne. Better-suited owners would be hard to find. Jim has stated that “these buildings deserve to be restored.” And, indeed, they do. 

 

We invite you to join us as a visitor or as a neighbor at Lincoln Mills. The restoration will be in an authentic setting, envisioned to feature:

 

  • Lincoln Mills - Huntsville Industrial Center & Dr. Pepper Museums
  • Organic farming and food processing
  • Local flavor restaurants
  • An independent movie theater
  • An event facility
  • A Sustainability Center focused on techniques and technologies that will lead us to live more lightly on the land
  • Loft homes, offices and galleries, for rent and for sale
  • And a guaranteed interesting mix of small business operators and loft dwellers.
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Tuesday
02Jun2009

Reduce-Reuse-Recycle

DateTuesday, June 2, 2009 at 11:22PM

The clash of the ironclads CSS Virginia and USS Monitor

In the grotesquely destructive logic of war, the USS Merrimack was scuttled (to purposely sink a ship by opening holes in its bottom) by the US Navy off the Virginia Peninsula when it appeared that it would fall into the hands of the Confederacy.

In an amazing example of “Reduce-Reuse-Recycle”, the Confederacy raised the wooden ship, and then proceeded to “reduce” the wooden frigate to the waterline. They then built a wood and iron angled deck from “recycled” iron that was melted, cast and rolled at the Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond into 4 layers of 2” thick, 8” wide protective plates.

The “reuse” of the combination of the scuttled ship and the recycled iron in the form of the newly-christened CSS Virginia resulted in a devastating attack on the US Navy’s wooden blockading squadron off of Newport News, Virginia. For one day, because of one ship, the Confederate Navy was the most powerful navy on the planet.

The next day, March 9, 1862, the USS Monitor arrived on the scene and battled the CSS Virginia to a brutal draw, and the age of naval warfare had entered a new, highly-lethal phase.

Reduce-Reuse-Recycle is not just a slogan at Lincoln Mills. For instance, the prison-inspired fencing is being reduced to the supporting posts, which are then reused, in conjunction with reused metal panels being taken off of the mill windows, in a new configuration that will feature an array of fruit trees and shrubs from Meridian Street to the railroad tracks.

The chain link fence is being reused at a youth baseball practice field.

AuthorWayne | Comment1 Comment |

Reader Comments (1)

Interesting parallels!

I'd like to see this reclamation.

June 2, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAnthony

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