Buffalo Mill Historic District, Historic textile mill district in Union County, United States.
Buffalo Mill Historic District is a textile factory area with around 190 buildings from the industrial period, including the main factory, administrative offices, a power plant, ice factory, and retail store. The layout shows the complete setup of a factory town, from production facilities to residential areas.
The factory was established in 1929 and followed the typical pattern of American textile manufacturing of that period. Architect W.B. Smith Whaley shaped the design with Romanesque elements, a style that gave character to many factory buildings of that era.
The mill village formed a self-contained community where workers lived in company-provided housing and shopped at the company store near their jobs. This setup shows how manufacturers created entire neighborhoods to keep workers close and dependent on the factory.
The grounds spread across a large area with many historic buildings that can be explored on foot, though visitors should allow time to see everything. The best approach is to walk slowly through the village and view each house and building to understand the overall layout.
The area clearly shows the social hierarchy of that time through its buildings: elegant Queen Anne homes for supervisors stand beside simple bungalows for workers. This spatial separation was a deliberate system that reflected the factory's power structure.
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