The following picture was on one of the Madison County penny postcards; while the date is unknown it could have been as shown on the penny above, 1914. Other penny postcards may be seen at: (http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/special/ppcs/ppcs.html)

Two Dallas Mill worker's contract pages are shown below. Click on each picture for a larger version:
  

Circa 1922 - Frank Falkenberry, Sr., and Jr. in their back yard at the corner of Stevens Avenue and Fourth Street

Circa 1960 - Village photo taken from atop Frank Falkenberry's home at 713 McKinley Avenue

On the left is a picture of the Dallas and Lincoln Mill Villages from yesteryear, and on the right is a modern-day view of the same general area. The large empty green patch is the site of Dallas Mill. Please click on these small pictures to see larger versions.

You may also click on the image below to see an expanded view of the area today. Please note that this view is oriented so that North is at the top of the page. These images are from the Google maps website.

Below is a photo of Dallas Mill and Lincoln Mill and the mill villages, looking toward the east.

After the close of Dallas Mill in 1949, Genesco Shoe Company used the mill building for their distribution operations until 1985 at which time it became vacant. Below are two photographs of the mill from the early 1980's.

Circa 1990 - The picture below was taken from Oakwood Avenue and shows pillars constructed to support a portion of I-565; note Dallas Mill in the background.

The unoccupied Dallas Mill building was destroyed by fire on 24 July 1991. Below is a picture during the fire and three pictures of the building in ruins.

The unoccupied Dallas Mill burning on 24 July 1991

Below are two photographs showing street scenes in Dallas Village.

Superintendents' and Overseers' Homes, Village of Dallas, Date Unknown. Oakwood Avenue?

This is the old red schoolhouse building behind Rison School

• It originally belonged to the Moore family.
  
• It is assumed that the Moore family gave the schoolhouse to the Dallas Mill because mill people lived in it after it was not used as a school.
  
• It was the first public school in Dallas Village.
  
• Once Rison School opened in 1921, the house became a boarding house and over time it was occupied by several families.
  
• The only part of the building now standing is the one story wing.
  

Editor's note, October 25, 2007: We heard from Brian Hogan who shared the following missing information:

"I thought I would give you an update on my quest to confirm that the 'old red school house building behind Rison School' was called Oakwood, the residence of W.H.Moore.

I have reviewed Chancery Court files, mortgage records, and G.W.Jones & Co. abstracts in the Madison County Court Records on the third floor of the Huntsville Public Library and can state with absolute certainty that that "old red school house building " was Moore's home, Oakwood.

I can not document that Oakwood Ave. was named after it but the coincidence cannot be ignored. I assert, without proof, that it was.

I also discovered a plat map done in 1945 that shows the location of the building, approximately 100 yards north of the Rison School, and fronting on what was then Elliott Street. (I think that's Withers Street today.) When time permits I intend to walk the area to pin point its location.

One thing confuses me...one of the photos on your website shows a single story duplex connected to one wing of the house. This does not appear on the plat map. Possibly because that structure was added after 1945, or had been moved from that location before 1945?

(Editor's update February 7, 2008: In response to the above query, our friend, Sara Ann Certain Hymer, said: "I know the addition to the old red schoolhouse, in what we called the grove, was there when I was a small child and I was born in 1928. The Chisams lived there - Mrs. Chisam and three sons or at least one of them who was Billie and Charles Chisam's father. I used to play with Billie because she was about my age. At the same time, the Wallaces and the Kings lived in the big house. After the Wallaces moved out, the Hawkins moved in. I don't know how long the Hawkins lived there but it was while I was growing up.")

As you know the current owner of that duplex could you inquire about this? I strongly suspect that the structure was moved as it now front on Withers St. as extended north.

(Editor's note: The owner of the duplex no longer lives at that site. It is my understanding that the wing now sits in the same location as originally added to the brick structure; the date it was added is not known.)

One other point...there was a lengthy Chancery Court case (#1557) in which W.H.Moore, as a Commissioner, and his children were involved which was resolved in 1887 and a decree rendered that directed William H.Moore to sell the lands involved. He did not, for reasons unknown, comply with that decree before he died in August, 1891. A new Commissioner was assigned to carry out the terms of the decree. It was not until November, 1899 that the property was sold, at public auction, to the Dallas Manufacturing Co., for $12,000 cash. The property consisted of two tracts, one of 40 and 65/100, and the other of 27 acres, for a total of 67 and 65/100 acres.

Thus it's certain that W.H.Moore had not given the "old red school house" to Dallas Mills.

I have a couple of other questions...what happened to that building? Someone told me it burned down but didn't know when that occurred. Another told me it had been demolished at the same time as the Rison School, in 1969. Can you enlighten me?

(Editor's note: Second hand information is that the owner of the brick portion of the old red schoolhouse demolished it to make way for the impending portion of I-565; the exact date is unknown. We do know that Rison School was torn down in the early 1990s in preparation for I-565.)

A red schoolhouse story:
I remember a story told to me by my daddy, Earl (Pappy) Schrimsher. He and a friend (whose name I won't reveal!) attended school in the red schoolhouse. Before school time on a cold winter morning , they "relieved" themselves into the pot-bellied stove. When the teacher arrived and started a fire, the stench was so bad that the teacher opened the windows and sent the kids outside to play until the odor subsided. Daddy laughed when telling the story and said, "Don't tell Ronnie and Bobby about it!" He said that because my brothers could get into trouble on their own without any suggestions!
~Ann Schrimsher Franklin

A Gathering of Dallas Village Folks in about 1947 on the grounds of the Little Red Schoolhouse
Speculation is that this was either a union meeting or a barbeque picnic.
Please note the cars in the background.
(You may click on the picture for a larger version)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1938 Dallas Mill Housing Rent, Electricity, and Water Agreements
(click for a larger view, click back button to return)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dallas Mill Employee Seniority Lists
(Opening, Picking, and Card Rooms)

Bobbin cleaner & utility hand: ??
Card tender: ??
Conveyer man: Keeps cotton fed on conveyer, from opening room to card room.
Drawing section and oiler: Takes rope of cotton off machines; keeps machines oiled.
Drawing tender: When roping cans get full, tender takes to spinning room.
Fixer on frames: Maintains machinery.
Grinder: Keeps the cards ground, removing impurities in the cotton.
Intermediate Tender: ??
Lip Weigher: ??
Opening room: Where the bales of cotton are opened and fed into ducts into card room.
Opening room hand: Someone who works in the opening room.
Roving layer: ??
Scrubber: Keeps blowers and machinery clean.
Section on drawing: ??
Slubber tender: ??
Spare hand: Fills in when someone is out.
Speeder tender: ??
Temp job rolling boxes: ??
Yarn and roving weigher: Keeps the weight consistent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dallas Mill Loom Fixers and Doffers - 1898
(click photo for a larger version)

Photograph Courtesy Huntsville Public Library

Did you notice that there are only males in these pictures? Does that mean that work as fixers and doffers could only be performed by males? Did the work require greater strength than that possessed by women? Does that mean that male children were considered to be stronger than women, especially girls?

We learned from Thurman Frasier, who worked in cotton mills, that the reason women didn’t work as loom fixers and doffers in the weave room is that the equipment was too heavy for them to operate. He had no idea as to how the young boys would have been able to operate the equipment unless they were given jobs as helpers.

Thurman said that in the 1960s a few women were trained as loom fixers in the weave room. In the spinning room, fixers and doffers were both men and women.

New Law Will Compel 300 Children to Quit Local Mills
(Used by permission of Old Huntsville magazine.)

(Note: Click Here to see a closeup view of the girl's basketball team)