||White men began to come through the Blue Ridge Mountains. "Indians" and "Whites" traded in a village called "Island Town".
|1805 to 1832
||Cherokee land Lotteries took place in 1805, 1807, 1820, 1821, 1827 and 1832. Probably the largest settlement in the original Cherokee tract was Lafayette
||On June 22, Mary Marsh and Andrew P. Allgood, after a two year engagement, were married. Mr. Allgood agreed to let his new bride finish school, as she was 15 years old. The lovely bride was the daughter of Judge Spencer Marsh, wealthy Lafayette merchant with interest in the possibilities of cotton manufacturing in the South. The 26 year old groom was an enterprising young man who had selected a corner lot in Lafayette for his first store. Did Mary first notice Andrew, this newcomer from South Carolina, or was it perhaps Judge Marsh?
|1843 & 1844
||Now father and son-in-law, Marsh
and Allgood begin to look around the area for a possible site
for a small mill. With good water power and the availability
of labor in the Georgia hills, a site in Chattooga County, along
the Chattooga River, was chosen. Mr. Jim Penn owned the desired
land and Judge Marsh offered him $6,000 for it. Mr. Penn liked
the price but did not have a fondness for paper money. He agreed
to sell his land, if he could be paid in silver. Marsh began
collecting silver coins on trips to Augusta, Savannah and Charleston
and, as the story goes, purchases the land with several bags
of dimes. In return he had lots 78, 79, 102, 103, and 115, Sixth
District, Fourth Section of the old Cherokee Land Lottery.
||Judge Spencer Marsh, Andrew P. Allgood along
with Colonel W.K. Briers formed a partnership on October 12
to begin manufacturing products from cotton. The agreement was
for Judge Marsh to hold and share one-half, Mr. Allgood to have
one-fourth and Colonel Briers would have the other fourth. The
capital invested was $25,000. A plank damn was built to furnish
water power for the small mill. The original structure was a
two-story building with the lower floor made of stone or brick
and the upper floor made of logs. The floor print of the new
mill measured 113 feet by 50 feet. Originally the 40 employees
produced five-pound bunches or hanks of yarn on the mill's 600
spindles. The hanks were sold to merchants in the area from
wagons. During the same year the name of the post office changed
from "Island Town" to "Half Way" and back to "Island Town".
||The tiny mill was complete and in full operation. Employees had increased to 45 along with an increase to 864 spindles and 10 looms were now in operation. A new product was also introduced: osnaburg sacks for the local wheat crop. Mr. Allgood purchased Colonel Brier's one-fourth interest in the young and growing enterprise during the year.
||The post office became Trion Factory,
Georgia with a William K. Briers (possibly the Colonel) as postmaster.
The name "Trion" was chosen because of the trio of men that
had founded the mill. With production from the small mill growing
and the railroad years away, the legendary "Allgood Wagons"
were a common site on the road between Trion Factory and Rome.
The small caravans consisted of four to eight wagons usually
drawn by four mules each. For many years the picturesque wagons
hauled finished products from the mill out over Taylor's Ridge
and returned with supplies. Three days were usually required
for this round trip. The company owned a camp, just on the other
south side of Armuchee Creek, which consisted of a barn and
a cabin. The regular routine was to leave Trion Factory on Monday
mornings, reaching the camp before night. On Tuesdays they went
on into Rome, unloaded, reloaded, and returned to the camp on
Armuchee Creek. On Wednesdays they made the long haul back over
the ridge and into Trion factory. On Thursdays they started
south again to repeat the three-day routine. As the years unfolded
and the mill grew, more and more wagons were seen on the road
between Trion Factory and Rome with occasional sightings along
the longer journey to Chattanooga.
||A court order was issued in August from Georgia
Chattooga County Inferior Court temporarily ceasing the mills
operation. Mr. Allgood, serving on a committee, allowed the
courts to use Trion Factory as a temporary hospital during an
epidemic in which a section of town known as "Smokey Row" got
its name. A Dr. Rudicil told the people that if they would burn
logs in the street and create a lot of smoke they might keep
from having the dread disease. There are no known records telling
us how long the epidemic lasted or how long the mill was closed.
It is believed to be for a short period of time, since nothing
more was written about the situation.
|1861 to 1865
||Much has been written about the Civil War and its impact upon the local area. Much could be included here but I have chosen to focus on the events that directly or indirectly affected the mill and the town. The mill continued to grow and we know that Trion Factory had a contract with the Confederacy to manufacture course woolens for the soldiers. On December 9th, 1862 the Georgia legislature passed an act to incorporate the town of Trion. The original town limits were one mile in every direction with the factory buildings being the center.
General Sherman chose not to burn the mill in 1864. Why? I, for one, do not buy into the theory that the mill was spared because the mill was a meeting place for Masons and the general chose not to burn the mill because he too was a Mason. In my research I have found the following: In a lawsuit about the destruction of another mill on Sweetwater Creek, near Atlanta, Mr. Allgood made the following statement on June 11, 1869, “When General Sherman passed our place in October, 1864 he stayed all night with me and the next morning gave me protection papers. General O. O. Howard sent a large guard to the factory to protect all the property there and showed no disposition on to destroy any of our property except provisions. I took extra pains to let the Union men of the county know my status or position and rendered them all the aid I could when they were in trouble and was known as a Union Man. We stopped running on May 10th, 1864 and run no more until peace ? I worked for the Confederate government under protest.”
||Telegraph line established between Trion and Rome by Judge Marsh and Mr. Allgood with a capital investment of $10,000.
||The mill had survived the Civil War and continued to grow in the years that followed. On April 10th the mill caught fire and burned to the ground, a total loss. Just 30 years after the original agreement between Marsh, Allgood and Briers, the mill had grown to a five story structure with 6,000 spindles and 215 looms. The mill employed 350 people at the time. The loss was estimated to be $150,000. The property was only insured for $30,000. Mr. Allgood did not believe in insurance companies.
12 miles away in Lafayette Judge Marsh watched the flow of thick smoke in the distant sky anxiously and his fear was soon confirmed when someone came and told him the mill was burning. Mr. Marsh began to pace the floor, worrying about the people who needed the jobs the mill furnished. He vowed that he would not let anyone suffer on account of lack of work, if it took every penny he had. He fulfilled that promise to himself and all during the construction of the new mill. He paid all employees of the former mill.
Mr. Allgood had worked furiously to save something of the mill. Realizing all was lost, he turned to some of the men he trusted and said, “Come with me!” Wondering what else could be done, the men soon found out. Mr. Allgood led the men into the surrounding woods and began marking trees that he wanted felled the next day for beams in the new mill. Such determination would be felt throughout the organization. It was the combined spirits of Marsh and Allgood, one of kindness and understanding, the other of forceful determination that gave Trion its splendid start.
Trion Manufacturing Company was formed on May 4th with capital stock of $225,000, shares at $100 each. In less than six months from the organization of the company the brick had been made, the timbers had been gotten out of the woods, the machinery had been hauled from Rome and the mill was in operation! This astonishing task was accomplished by the energy of Mr. Allgood, president of Trion Manufacturing Company. The almost superhuman exertion during the rebuilding took a lot out of Mr. Allgood and his health soon began to decline. The new mill was two stories tall with 258 looms.
||The year began with 12 inches of snow on January
1st and a record cold temperature of minus 16 degrees on the
3rd. A tannery was added during the year, one of the first in
the state and one of the first fertilizer factories in North
Georgia was also part of Trion Manufacturing company.
||First "Free School" established in Trion with Mr. Sam Jones one of the first teachers.
||Article appeared in State Gazetteer
(newspaper) Mentioning the following about Trion: “It
has an established population of 600…5 miles N.E. of
Summerville courthouse and 25 miles from Rome, its shipping
office, via which it is 105 miles to Atlanta. Has a common school,
three churches, Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian…and
one cotton factory operated by water power. Manufactures sheeting,
shirting, drills, yarns, ropes. Consumes about 4,000 bales of
cotton annually. Mail daily on horseback, sometimes buggy.”
||The mill was back on its feet and flourishing after the tragic fire of 1875. Mr. Allgood, now in very poor health, resigned as president of Trion Manufacturing Company. Mr. Allgood’s trust for the future guidance of the thriving company he helped start 35 years ago lay in his only son, Deforrest. Deforrest was twenty four years old at the time. Deforrest was well deserving of his father’s trust. He excelled in school and went to work for his father after completing his schooling. Deforrest possessed a unique blend of kindness, gentleness and courtesy (traits of his mother, Mary and grandfather, Judge Marsh) combined with strong determination and firmness (traits of his father, Mr. Andrew Allgood). Under the guidance of Deforrest Allgood the mill grew, the town was improved and the daily lives of the people were made better. “Deedy”, as he was known, was beloved by the people of Trion and the surrounding area. He had the cabins and fences cleaned of snuff and tobacco had the houses white-washed every spring, gave each family a garden and helped them realize food from it.
||Trion Manufacturing Company purchased a gas generator.
The generator was located in the south end of No. 1 weave room.
This meant that the oil lamps and the aggravation of hauling
oil from the large tank in the mill yard (not to mention fire
potential) was a thing of the past. The generator was used to
power lights within the mill.
||The train comes to Trion! Looking back, this might appear to be a small event. The reality of it was that it caused much excitement in the area. This occurrence would be the equivalent of an airport being located in Trion today. In late June the first train came through Trion. The C R & C Railroad had been completed that linked Carrolton, Rome and Chattanooga. The first depot in Trion was a boxcar located along the tracks behind the current location of the Tavern. Covered wagons were sent by the company to get the freight. One of the drivers, a Mr. Pullen, was the first person killed by a Train in Trion.
The same year the Georgia State Legislature passed a labor bill that increased wages and improved working conditions for the state’s factory workers. More importantly, this bill also prohibited young children from working in the factories. The bill was introduced by Sam E. Jones, former Trion school teacher. Deforrest Allgood was one of the very few manufacturers to support Mr. Jones when he tried to introduce labor bills in the Georgia Legislature. Mr. Jones is quoted as saying, “Deforrest wanted to keep children out of the mill and to shorten hours and increase wages, but other manufactures in the state were against such legislation.”
||The mill increased in space and capacity with the addition of the building of No. 2 Mill.
||The first long-distance telephone line in the state was erected linking Trion Manufacturing Company with Rome.
In the ten years that had passed since taking over the company from his father, Deforrest Allgood had accomplished a lot. The mill had grown and prospered along with the town and its people. Suddenly, tragedy struck: Deforrest Allgood was gunned down on the streets of Rome by his brother-in-law, Dr. J. B. S. Holmes. The reason for this tragedy is not definitely known. Dr. Holmes was brought to trial for murder and found “not guilty”. Both men were well thought of in their respective communities. The people of Rome were sure that Dr. Holmes was innocent. The people of Trion and Summerville were positive that Mr. Allgood had done nothing to provoke such a response from Dr. Holmes. The week the verdict in the case was returned, the Summerville paper devoted an entire page of editorials against the verdict. Over a year after the incident the paper suggested that a new mill be built in Summerville, the people supply the capital and name the mill The Deforrest Allgood Memorial. It has been said that more tears were shed in Trion on the day of Mr. Allgood’s funeral than ever before or since. People that witnessed it attest that Mr. Allgood’s favorite horses refused to pull the hearse that was to bear his body and that in the midst of the funeral new horses had to be brought in.
Mr. A. S. Hamilton, who married Margaret Allgood, succeeded his brother-in-law as president of Trion Manufacturing Company.
||On April 19th, the company purchased
and installed a large bell. It was placed in the tower of the
new mill and was used to wake people in the mornings. It was
also tapped by the watchmen to show the hours of night and on
Sundays. The bell cost $228 and weighed 1,028 pounds. (The bell
has been refurbished and is on display today in the area around
Automatic sprinklers were installed in the brick warehouse, new houses were built in South Trion and the "new" First Baptist Church was begun that summer (destroyed by fire in mid-1950s).
||The ice factory began in May and the first ice was sold on June 23. The first soda fountain was put in operation on July 17.