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The Town of Wake Forest is not the only
one planning a centennial. What we call
Mill Village was incorporated in 1907 as
the Town of Royall Mill, and the people
living there now want to celebrate.
Monday, June 25, a steering
committee will meet at Glen Royal
Baptist Church to begin planning with
long-time village residents Marlon Cole,
Margaret Caton and Claire Wall. Anyone
interested is urged to attend.
“Beyond the initial planning
session, this should not be a
time-consuming undertaking. Residents of
our neighborhood will ‘carry the load,’”
Beverly Whisnant wrote in inviting
members of the new Wake Forest
Historical Association, the Wake Forest
Birthplace Museum and the Wake Forest
Historic Preservation Commission to
attend. She is a village resident.
One event is already
planned. Jamie Cox was a planner with
the town of Wake Forest when the Mill
Village Historic District was formed and
wrote a book, “A Common Thread: Life at
Royall Mill and its Village, 1899 to
1996.” He has agreed to speak on Nov. 3.
In September Bill Crabtree,
who will head the town’s new
communications department after July 1,
will feature the Mill Village in Focus
on Wake Forest on Channel 10.
The Mill Village is tucked
away between North Main Street and the
CSX rail line north of East Chestnut
Avenue. It is the only intact mill
village left in Wake County outside of
Raleigh.
“It would be difficult to
dispute that, outside of the college, no
single industry or event has affected
the history and form of the Town of Wake
Forest in a more profound way than has
the Royall Cotton Mill,” Cox wrote. “As
the town’s first industry, the mill left
an indelible mark on the entire
community.”
Royall Cotton Mills was
incorporated in 1899 by three
brothers-in-law: Robert E. Royall,
Thomas E. Holding and William C. Powell.
They bought 25 acres Royall and Powell
owned, hired architect C.R. Makepeace to
design the mill and commissary, hired
John D. Briggs to put up the buildings,
and hired local builder Benjamin Thomas
Hicks to build 30 houses for the
“operatives.”
Over the years, a railroad
spur and land were added, the mill was
enlarged and more houses were built. In
the early 1900s there were about 75
houses and a church.
It was a community that kept
to itself even though it was nestled
next to Wake Forest. Workers bought
their food, clothing and other goods at
the commissary, they went to church in
the village, the mill provided a doctor
for 10 cents per person per month, and
they had home-grown fun and
entertainment.
Although the mill did not
finally close until April of 1976, some
of the early cohesiveness had
disappeared several years before. A new
management in the mid-1940s subdivided
the village into individual lots and
began selling the houses, then numbering
88. In 1945, the company asked the
General Assembly to repeal the town’s
charter.
The mill, with its additions
removed, is now Royal Mill Apartments.
The commissary has been renovated as
apartments. Some new homes have been
built in the village and most of the
remaining mill houses have been
refurbished and renovated. |
