I assume the location of the Hamer Cotton Mill as it was known when it was organized in 1903 was determined by one of the principal shareholders, Robert Pickett Hamer, Jr. who owned the land on which the plant was constructed. Further its location adjacent to a swamp area was a plus since there was a need for discharge drainage from the plant operation. Back then there were no regulations about what later would be considered pollutants. Too, transportation was needed to move materials and the railroad ran adjacent to the mill site. Labor was plentiful and cotton was readily available locally.
According to Stokes’ History of Dillon County, the initial investment was $100,000, a princely sum at the turn of the century. The stockholders were R.P. Hamer, Jr., W.M. Hamer, D.M. Carmichael and Allen Edens. The plant consisted of a large warehouse, a church building, about 55 homes and the cotton mill. Today the warehouse, the old superintendent’s home and the mill itself, greatly modified, still stand. This column is mostly about the mill.
The original mill produced yarn from raw cotton which was rail shipped to other processors to be made into various finished products. The brick building was heavily windowed because of the need for ventilation from the cotton dust generated and from the oppressive heat during the summer. A various times the mill even ran three shifts of production and eventually employed several hundred workers. Today there are no windows, there is of course air-conditioning and the workers are considerably fewer since the machinery is state of the art computer controlled. Cotton is no longer processed but rather the product produced is Kevlar, a trade name for material used in such items as bullet proof vests. Reportedly the Hamer Mill (owned by Charles Craft) is one of the most advanced operations in its specialty in the United States.
Actually what I started out to write was about the tower, its most prominent architectural feature other than the brick smokestack, that exists mid way the building facing the railroad. I have never been in the tower itself but have talked with a 93-year-old former worker who was familiar with the building. I always thought it was used at first for an office but my source said that while it could have been used as such, but actually the building held a large water tank which one would assume provided water for the steam engines that once powered the machinery. The tank was in the top section of the tower since the water flowed by gravity.
Over the years apparently the tower was no longer used and until recently, the ravages of time were apparent. It was obvious that repairs were needed which have now come about. New windows have been added and a new roof now shields the building from the elements. This improvement can easily be seen as one passes through the main street (Faithful Road) through what used to be the Hamer Mill Village.
My father as a 14-year-old boy once worked in this very mill. Hats off to Charles Craft for its preservation efforts!
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Bill Lee, PO Box 128,
Hamer, SC 29547
