Belton Yarn Mill
a.k.a. #37;Griggs International,Inc.
805 E. Fourth St., Belton, TXThe Belton Yarn Mill is a product of the cotton industry which developed in Belton during the late 19th century. Contextually it relates to community and Regional development, specifically to Belton's dependence on the cotton industry from the 1880s to the 1920s. The building is eligible for listing in the National Register under Criterion A, significant in the area of Industry, for its association with cotton processing in Belton. It is also significant in the area of Architecture, as an intact turn-of-the-century industrial building of distinctive limestone construction.
The Belton Yarn Mill was built in 1900 by a coalition of Belton businessmen at a cost of $65,000 to establish a manufacturing industry to comp processing already going on in Belton. By the late 19th century Bell County was an important cotton-producing area and the Belton Yarn Mill became one of several cotton processing facilities operating in and around Belton at the turn of the century. The name of the builder of the project is unknown but was most likely a local contractor. The mill began operating in 1901 and originally had 3,200 spindles and 100 looms. Soon thereafter, it was converted strictly to a yarn mill and the number of spindles was increased to 7000. After the financial panic of 1907, the mill closed and stood empty for nine years when it was reopened by a group from North Carolina led by Colonel Johnson. The mill apparently continued to operate through the 1920s but closed in the late 1920s or early 1930s when the cotton industry in the county collapsed.
The Belton Yarn Mill is one of the few surviving examples of the numerous cotton processing businesses which once formed a central part of Belton's economy. Such early industrial buildings are comparatively rare in Texas, particularly in Central Texas where the economy at the turn of the century was predominantly agricultural. Although the original spinning machinery has been removed, the building is largely intact and represents an excellent example of a late 19th-century factory complex. Architecturally, the structure is notable for its heavy ashlar limestone construction, more typical of mid19th century industrial construction.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.