Hoskins Mill, cotton mill in Charlotte, North Carolina
Hoskins Mill is a cotton mill in Charlotte, North Carolina, built in the early 1900s. The building is made of red brick with three main stories and tall arched windows that once brought daylight into production areas. A smaller one-story office building with dormers and a porch stands nearby. Inside, wooden posts and beams show the original factory construction.
The mill was founded around 1904 by Edward A. Smith, an entrepreneur who shaped Charlotte's textile industry. It became part of a rapidly growing company that operated multiple factories across the Carolinas and Virginia, significantly influencing regional economic development. Changes came in the 1980s when a fire in 1985 led to production shutting down, and the factory eventually ceased operations. In 1988, Hoskins Mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The mill's name comes from Hoskins Road, where the building sits. The factory was the center of a small community where workers and their families lived in simple homes built right beside it. This close link between factory and living space helps visitors understand how industrial life shaped the neighborhood.
The site sits near Hoskins Road in Charlotte's urban area and is easy to reach. Since the building is now inactive, there are no regular internal activities, but visitors can view the exterior and surroundings. Walking around allows you to see the architectural details and get a sense of the industrial setting.
The building shows a notable feature: a functional division of labor across three floors, with each level housing a specific step of the textile manufacturing process. Carding happened on the second floor, weaving on the ground floor, and spinning on the top floor. This spatial organization lets visitors today still trace how workers moved between levels and how production was organized.
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