Cone Mills Corporation - Turn of The Century

Turn of The Century

In 1899 Moses and Ceasar partnered with Emanuel and Herman Sternberger of South Carolina to build a flannel production plant called Revolution Mills. In 1905 under Proximity Manufacturing Company the Cone brothers built White Oak Cotton Mills in Greensboro. By 1908 it was the world's largest producer of denim. The heavy-duty blue denim manufactured by the mills controlled by Moses gave him the reputation of being "the Denim King." The company has produced the denim fabric for Levi Strauss & Company since 1915. They are the exclusive supplier in recent years of the fabric for Levi's brand 501 jeans.

In 1912 the company opened Proximity Print Works. This plant was one of the earliest color cloth printing facilities in the Southern United States. In 1927 the company acquired Cliffside Cotton Mills (manufacturer of terry cloth) and Haynes Plant (producer of chambray). By 1929 they had acquired Holt-Granite Puritan Mills Company of Haw River, North Carolina. They then acquired the corduroy producing Tabardrey Manufacturing Company. By 1932 the Cone company had gained controlling stock of Eno Cotton Mills of Hillsborough, North Carolina. They bought the Florence Mills of Forest City, North Carolina in 1941 and also its subsidiary called American Spinning Company of Greenville, South Carolina.