High Point Historic Industrial Architecture Survey, August 2014

Phillips, Laura

Introduction: "High Point, in Guilford County, North Carolina, developed around the crossroads of the North Carolina Railroad and the Great Fayetteville and Western Plank Road created in 1855. Like many other towns that owed their existence to the opportunities afforded by the railroad, High Point grew during the second half of the nineteenth century in all areas of community life – commerce, small industrial pursuits, housing, churches, and schools. By the end of the century, industries were growing in number and size, and during the first half of the twentieth century, these expanded until High Point was not only recognized as the Furniture Capital of the South, but also a leading center for hosiery manufacturing in the United States. After many years of industrial prosperity, the end of the twentieth century brought foreign competition from companies with much lower operating costs. As a result, many of High Point’s industries closed. Nevertheless, many of the city’s historic industrial buildings survive, and some of these are still home to active industries. Past historic architectural surveys have captured both images and information on some of the industrial buildings. Seven were recorded by staff of North Carolina’s Historic Preservation Office (HPO) in 1974-1975. Two years later, when H. McKelden Smith conducted a countywide survey, he recorded sixteen of High Point’s industrial properties and included them in his subsequent book, Architectural Resources: An Inventory of Historic Architecture: High Point, Jamestown, Gibsonville, Guilford County. Five of the sixteen properties recorded by Smith no longer survive. Additional survey and survey update work around the turn of the twenty-first century led to the publication in 2008 of Benjamin Briggs’s The Architecture of High Point North Carolina: A History and Guide to the City’s Houses, Churches and Public Buildings. Despite the parameters of the subtitle, Briggs’s book featured eleven industrial properties, four of which had not been previously surveyed. Three industrial properties – Tomlinson Chair Manufacturing Company Complex, the O. Arthur Kirkman Manufacturing Company Building, and Highland Cotton Mills – have been added to the National Register of Historic Places, the latter two as part of historic districts. Although some attention has been paid to these properties since the 1970s, they represent only a small fraction of all historic industrial sites in High Point. By the early twenty-first century, many of the city’s factory buildings stood idle. With concern for the effect this has on High Point’s economy and knowledge that many of the vacant buildings could be rehabilitated for new uses, the City of High Point decided to undertake a survey that would record the city’s historic industrial buildings – both those that still function industrially and those that do not. Such a survey would provide the city with a much clearer understanding of the breadth and depth of High Point’s overall industrial history and identify those properties that warrant preservation and potential listing in the National Register. Thus, the city sought and was awarded a matching grant of federal historic preservation funds administered by the HPO. This survey, conducted by architectural historian Laura A. W. Phillips from winter through summer 2014, is the result." Funding was provided in part by a 2013 Historic Preservation Fund grant to the City of High Point (project number NC-13-014) administered by the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office (grant number P13AF00046) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. High Point, North Carolina is a Certified Local Government.

High Point Historic Industrial Architecture Survey, August 2014

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