[00:00:36.000] [music] [00:00:36.440] Between four and five thousand people live within the city limits now, [00:00:37.440] thousands more on the outskirts. [00:00:39.960] But at the turn of the century, two dirt roads crossed [00:00:43.240] where this post office now stands. [00:00:45.800] There was a country store and the place was then known as Matthew's Crossroads. [00:00:52.280] While some communities have declined, [00:00:54.880] Siler City, which is located close to the center of the state, [00:00:59.080] is one of the fastest growing communities in North Carolina. [00:01:03.320] A man who can explain this growth is Al Resh, the town's newspaper editor. [00:01:09.240] He's played an important part in this community's development. [00:01:12.500] Over the years, [00:01:14.440] as an editor, we have recognized the fact that [00:01:17.320] there is, and has been, a need for a broader diversification of our economy. [00:01:23.720] As a result, in the early years of my editorship here, [00:01:29.200] we saw the need for more industry to come in, to be brought in, [00:01:34.200] to be added to our existing industries in order to provide more jobs [00:01:39.520] for the people who essentially were rural and who lived on farms. [00:01:45.520] That brought into being the balance for progress slogan [00:01:49.880] that the community has used extensively for about fifteen years. [00:01:55.400] We have seen, for instance, the need for the expansion of our water facilities. [00:02:01.440] More recently, there have bids been placed [00:02:06.040] and let, contracts let, for a new sewage plant. [00:02:11.040] This came in the form of a successful bond issue which we supported. [00:02:18.160] Supported editorially, [00:02:20.240] supported in the news column, citing the statements of our government [00:02:24.720] officials as to the need and why people should vote for them. [00:02:31.200] This is not a one industry town [00:02:33.720] where one man acts as a restrictive force to keep a community from growing. [00:02:40.360] We don't have, so to speak, [00:02:41.840] the man living in the white house on the hill who points his finger or gives [00:02:47.040] orders and says this shall not be. As a matter of fact, [00:02:51.080] one striking example is the attitude of F. J. Bowling Sr., [00:02:56.880] whose father organized the Bowling Chair Company in 1901. [00:03:02.560] Well, we kind of believed that one industry would compliment another and that [00:03:09.280] if we brought in [00:03:11.920] hosiery or textiles. And we predominantly— [00:03:17.440] women labor with the surplus of men. [00:03:21.000] It has worked out that way. [00:03:23.680] And it's been plenty of jobs for women, too. [00:03:31.520] Mrs. J. D. T. Foust, over twelve years with the company, [00:03:32.120] takes pride in the skills she developed on the job. [00:03:35.720] Bowling employs some four hundred workers. [00:03:38.880] Many still live on farms. [00:03:41.400] They were trained by the company in their industrial crafts. [00:03:49.840] Bowling Chair still occupies the old building, has expanded it several times. [00:03:55.840] Bill Wren has added feeds to his expanding flour mill. [00:04:00.480] But as the town grew, [00:04:02.040] so did the need for jobs, more jobs than the older industries could supply. [00:04:07.600] There is one matter [00:04:09.200] that I've been greatly concerned with over the years, and that is the almost [00:04:13.480] continuous outmigration of our young people. [00:04:17.320] We educate them. [00:04:18.960] We spend a lot of money both at the state [00:04:21.440] level and in private institutions to train these people, [00:04:25.400] and then they find themselves wholly incapable of finding job opportunities [00:04:30.640] either in their hometowns or within the areas of the state. [00:04:35.080] Some communities had no industries at all. [00:04:38.400] Too often the young people had to go away to find any work. [00:04:43.800] Too often they came home only to die and be buried in their native soil. [00:04:49.840] This might have been the pattern in Siler City [00:04:52.760] if it had not been for far sighted industrialists like F. J. Bowling, [00:04:57.640] who financially supported the drive for new industry. [00:05:00.786] Several years ago, [00:05:08.680] didn't make much progress until we organized our development company and [00:05:10.557] bought fifty-seven acres of land on the edge of town. [00:05:21.640] Then we really began to get into business [00:05:23.840] and had something to offer [00:05:24.800] and show people as they were coming here looking for a location. [00:05:29.240] Another businessman who has worked hard [00:05:31.480] for industrial development is the owner of Chatham Motors, Frank Justice. [00:05:36.760] We got together and had a meeting. We [00:05:40.040] wanted to find some way to take care of the [00:05:45.920] prospects as we had for industrial sites. [00:05:47.920] And we decided to form a cooperation [00:05:52.360] whereby we could set up the machinery to take care of the prospects that we had of [00:05:57.320] people seeking sites here in Siler City. [00:06:01.000] And [00:06:02.600] the purpose, of course, was to [00:06:05.840] to have this thing ready when we had a prospect so we could show them our park [00:06:11.800] and tell them about the facilities that we had: water and sewage, schools, churches, [00:06:21.560] country clubs, and hospitals, and other things that we had to offer. [00:06:26.400] Cooperating with the Development Corporation [00:06:29.240] is the Chamber of Commerce and its president, Paul Johnson. [00:06:33.880] Our Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1947 [00:06:38.810] and our first president was Dr. George Plesant, who is now a doctor in Siler City. [00:06:45.600] Since then, we have grown to the membership of a hundred and nineteen. [00:06:51.440] And the people in the town, all new business and industry, [00:06:55.520] have been very successful in joining our Chamber with the help that we give them. In many ways, [00:07:01.360] these ways we can help them by successfully pulling new industry in [00:07:07.280] which means naturally more money to be spent in our area. [00:07:10.800] The Chamber publicizes the town [00:07:12.960] with brochures and in other ways, [00:07:15.257] but relies on the State Department of Conservation and Development [00:07:19.720] to refer most of the industrial prospects. [00:07:23.480] The State sends data sheets down [00:07:25.680] which we try to fill and help in any manner that we can. [00:07:29.720] Our secretary, Miss Katherine Roe, [00:07:31.680] who has been with us since we formed the Chamber in 1947, [00:07:35.840] returns to the State with the necessary information that they have required. [00:07:40.500] It's very important that we keep these [00:07:42.600] sheets up to date and send them in to the Department of Conservation and Development. [00:07:47.760] Our town is growing and it's necessary to inform them of the changes in our town. [00:07:53.440] It's also necessary that they know [00:07:57.120] what is available here so that the correct industry could be sent to our town. [00:08:04.400] They need to be informed periodically of our resources. [00:08:08.480] We have an industry committee, which is headed by Dr. Mott P. Blair [00:08:12.120] with ten on his committee. [00:08:14.840] We work very closely with Dr. Blair [00:08:17.600] when new industry is sent to us [00:08:19.800] from the State to show them areas in Siler City, possibly they would be [00:08:23.600] interested in forming a new factory or what they might be interested in. [00:08:29.720] Most of the people, when they come looking for a place to put an industrial plant, [00:08:36.400] they're interested mainly in having available help in the community. [00:08:41.960] They are looking for a community that will [00:08:43.800] cooperate with them and will be neighborly with them. [00:08:47.200] They are looking for a desirable site [00:08:51.480] on which to construct this manufacturing facility. [00:08:55.960] Oftentimes they need an airport, [00:08:59.520] they need adequate sewer and water, they need fire protection, [00:09:04.200] and they need, [00:09:06.280] I guess above all, to be felt like that they are wanted [00:09:10.480] in a community so that they can become a part of your community. [00:09:15.240] The first thing we show them usually is [00:09:17.600] a site because they are looking for a place to put their manufacturing plant. [00:09:21.880] Our development corporation has bought acreage which we have available [00:09:26.680] with a price on it so that when we take these prospects out [00:09:30.160] and show them the site we can tell them exactly what this site will cost them. [00:09:34.860] We can tell them that there's water to it, [00:09:37.160] that there's sewage on it, that a railroad is available, [00:09:40.040] that there's adequate power there, and that— [00:09:44.160] It was three long years after the Development Corporation acquired this site, [00:09:48.200] put in water, sewage, and a railroad spur before an industry located on it, [00:09:54.480] but the investors had faith and they had what one corporation was looking for. [00:10:02.600] The Selig Corporation, [00:10:04.600] a Massachusetts furniture concern, was first to build on this particular site. [00:10:10.640] General manager of the Siler City plant, [00:10:13.080] Bernard McDoll, tells why Selig chose this location. [00:10:18.800] We selected three states which occupy the center of the [00:10:23.520] Atlantic coast and proceeded to write to the governors of all three states. [00:10:28.320] We very rapidly received an answer from North Carolina's governor, [00:10:33.400] inviting us down to North Carolina and placing at our disposal [00:10:38.520] a field engineer to show us everything about the state that we might want to learn [00:10:42.880] to conduct us through the state, to various towns, [00:10:46.160] and to make our appointments for us, and to assist us in any way possible. [00:10:52.520] The engineer from Commerce and Industry, [00:10:54.600] Bob Whitfield, showed me through many, many towns and communities throughout [00:10:59.120] North Carolina, which satisfied our general geographic requirements. [00:11:05.200] We finally, after many interviews among [00:11:08.120] many people in North Carolina, settled on the town of Siler City. [00:11:13.320] We did this for many compelling reasons. [00:11:17.600] But basically, the foremost reason for us [00:11:20.360] settling in Siler City was the attitude of the people within the city itself. [00:11:27.800] They genuinely wanted to see new industry here. [00:11:31.160] They indicated to us that they would do [00:11:33.800] everything within reason to make us feel welcome. [00:11:37.280] They provided us with services which we felt we had to have. [00:11:41.450] And lastly, and most importantly, [00:11:43.840] indicated to us that they would be willing to cooperate with us [00:11:47.520] to the limit, providing we did not come down here and ask, [00:11:51.440] in the final analysis, for something for nothing, [00:11:54.200] which we had no intention of doing. [00:11:56.800] It is our intentions and plans [00:12:00.480] to go ahead and expand this operation until we reach a point where we're capable [00:12:04.920] of producing two thousand pieces of furniture a week from this location. [00:12:09.880] This will require somewhere in the vicinity of two hundred and fifty to three hundred people [00:12:15.360] in this plant. [00:12:16.760] And we hope to achieve this level of production as rapidly as we possibly can. [00:12:23.280] It is here that a frame, a wooden frame, [00:12:28.440] which of the basic part of a piece of a [?] furniture, [00:12:29.471] is delivered and coordinated [00:12:32.080] with the fabric cover that will ultimately go on it. [00:12:36.320] Our preupholsterers pick up these two [00:12:38.720] segments of the pieces of furniture and put them together. [00:12:43.640] They apply all the foundation materials [00:12:46.440] and apply the decks, or the seats, to the piece of furniture. [00:12:50.640] This is an elemental skill in preparation to becoming a full fledged upholsterer. [00:12:57.310] It is here that the individual learns [00:12:59.360] the application of filling materials and the handling of the most basic type [00:13:05.480] of cloth on the deck of the furniture itself. [00:13:09.560] We were told, and we subsequently came to realize [00:13:13.200] that these people had something which was more important than skill initially. [00:13:17.280] They had a desire to work. [00:13:19.280] They had a desire to come into a factory [00:13:21.360] and learn a trade, learn a skill, improve their economic standing in their community [00:13:26.840] in return for which they would be willing to give a full days work. [00:13:32.840] Such a worker is James Cheek, [00:13:35.520] who has been through the training and is now a skilled upholsterer. [00:13:39.920] Cheek makes up to two dollars an hour. [00:13:42.560] He can turn out five chairs in that time. [00:13:48.560] A good man with his hands, Cheek learned his job quickly and well. [00:13:53.557] [buzzer] [00:13:56.280] The shift ends at 3:00 p.m. [00:13:59.000] and Cheek can get back to his farm in time to do some work there before dark. [00:14:03.720] His wife, also born on a farm, works in the hosiery mill. [00:14:08.280] They raise tobacco, corn, hogs, and a nice family. [00:14:15.840] We have three children, three boys. [00:14:20.320] If I have a break down, you know, out on the farm I'll [00:14:24.400] fix it myself most of the time. [00:14:29.760] Go out to [?] and go get the parts and fix it myself. [00:14:32.960] Another industry attracted to Siler City by the Siler City Development Corporation, [00:14:38.320] which acquired the site and built this plant is the Carolina Poultry Company. [00:14:43.800] Its president, Archie Brower, tells how this came about. [00:14:48.400] I got a telephone call from Mr. Frank Justice [00:14:54.960] asking me to come up. He wanted to talk to me. [00:14:59.640] Well, I wasn't interested in a car. [00:15:01.280] I mean, by him being a good car salesman. I [00:15:06.040] wasn't too interested. But he goes on to say— [00:15:10.600] Well, he says, [00:15:11.943] "We think you boys are doing a good job. [00:15:14.529] You've got something good started," he says, "I'd like to see you keep it up." [00:15:19.880] And said, [00:15:21.360] come on up here and let me talk to you and see if we can't work out something for you. [00:15:25.720] That, I'll always remember that instance [00:15:29.160] when we was talking about organizing, about the time we organized. [00:15:33.240] I happened to know of this situation with the Carolina Poultry Company, who was [00:15:39.200] formerly a little company and working down in Bonlee. [00:15:43.520] And of course down there the sanitation wasn't so well [00:15:46.720] because they didn't have sewerage and the plant was inadequate [00:15:51.920] and they wanted a better plant. [00:15:55.320] And I talked to them on several occasions and some of the other boys did. [00:16:01.200] [?] Dark I think had a great deal of influence on the attorney. [00:16:06.000] And we thought that they could build [00:16:08.840] a better plant, a more up to date plant, and make more money. [00:16:14.440] I'd say we might put out right much money a week in this area to farmers alone, [00:16:21.560] other than the employees here. [00:16:24.430] We have people out here in the country growing these chickens for us. [00:16:28.080] We furnish the feed and the chickens. [00:16:30.720] And then when they get large enough to [00:16:33.720] process we go out and bring the chickens in and [00:16:37.640] then settle up with the farmer for the work that he's done. [00:16:40.320] So we are actually putting a lot of money in this community. [00:16:45.280] Now, making the payments regularly [00:16:47.880] they found ways and means themselves to buy the equipment, [00:16:52.000] which I understand runs something over a hundred thousand dollars to start with. [00:16:56.080] We may not have the biggest plant in North Carolina, but we think what we have is good. [00:17:01.640] And our product is, [00:17:04.000] we think is very good, because we have control of our product from the [00:17:09.480] egg all the way down to the processing line. [00:17:15.360] We are working approximately, at this time, about a hundred and twenty five people. [00:17:21.960] And as we've increased our production—of course we had to train them and [00:17:29.000] it wasn't too hard to do, [00:17:29.520] therefore we were able to hire a lot of people that hadn't ever worked in a plant before. [00:17:34.400] But we find and make as good as help as anybody you could hire, especially in the poultry plant. [00:17:39.920] Doubt if these people were doing anything before we hired them other than [00:17:45.080] working around on the farms at odd jobs. [00:17:48.440] High grade chickens from this plant are packed [00:17:51.080] in ice and shipped all over the state and to cities as far away as New York. [00:17:58.440] Across the highway from Carolina Poultry [00:18:01.400] is the Siler City Manufacturing Corporation, a hosiery concern. [00:18:07.040] How it moved here from New Jersey is told by a company executive, Jack White. [00:18:13.640] So we toured the state for [00:18:16.440] two weeks, or three weeks, [00:18:19.200] but we decided to come back to Siler City. [00:18:22.280] We came back and talked to the town fathers [00:18:25.840] and they agreed to put the water and sewer out where this plant is. [00:18:29.480] We weren't in the city then, [00:18:31.960] we are now in the city limits [00:18:33.640] but at that time, we weren't. [00:18:36.000] And they agreed to put the water and sewer out here [00:18:39.320] and raise seventy-five thousand dollars, which we'd pay them back [00:18:44.240] as we used the water. [00:18:46.760] And [00:18:48.520] we had a big meeting on June 14th in 1950 in the City Hall. [00:18:58.680] And it's like a history book story. [00:19:02.600] I was on the stage. [00:19:04.760] The place was crowded [00:19:07.400] and a man in the back of the room [00:19:09.720] by the name of Tom Brooks stood up and he said, "I don't think that Mr. White [00:19:14.320] feels that there's seventy-five thousand amongst us." [00:19:18.600] But he said, "Mr. White, [00:19:20.080] in order to ensure you that we will put the water and sewer out there [00:19:24.280] Mr. C. C. Brewer, who is president of the bank here in Siler City, [00:19:29.160] I'll make him out a blank check and whatever they can't raise [00:19:32.320] that you have the seventy-five thousand tomorrow morning." [00:19:35.840] So we broke ground here on June 15th of 1950. [00:19:39.960] We grew this plant from a hundred and twenty-five [00:19:42.600] to an average of five hundred people [00:19:44.880] and we've maintained that five hundred people [00:19:48.360] here since that time with a payroll of around two million per year. [00:19:54.600] Out of the first people that were here for ten years, [00:19:58.560] we had seventy-six of them in 1961 [00:20:02.400] was here with us out of the first hundred and twenty-five. [00:20:05.680] Seventy-six of them was still with us after ten years. [00:20:09.480] And we have grown to that record now. [00:20:13.080] We've had three different ten year parties and the last party was forty-four. [00:20:19.800] We feel that we have the finest people, not only in the city of Siler City, [00:20:24.640] but in the State of North Carolina working for Siler City Manufacturing. [00:20:29.120] And not by us coming to North Carolina [00:20:33.240] we helped another big industry [00:20:35.440] in the State of North Carolina known as Madison Throwing. [00:20:38.571] Madison Throwing in Madison, North Carolina [00:20:42.120] produces all the throwing yarn for us. [00:20:45.360] In other words, we buy the raw yarn from both Dupont and Kim Strand, [00:20:49.720] but they do the throwing, the twisting for us. [00:20:52.880] And when we came here, they employed about twenty-five, thirty people in 1950. [00:20:58.720] Today, they employ approximately a thousand people. [00:21:02.320] Many of the hosiery mill workers live out in the country, [00:21:05.840] some on farms like Mrs. Cheek. [00:21:08.880] But on pay day, they head for town with their paychecks before going home. [00:21:15.240] There are several new supermarkets in Siler City [00:21:18.520] serving customers within a twenty mile radius. [00:21:22.600] A good portion of the money earned in the community is spent in the community. [00:21:27.443] [music] [00:21:30.280] Everyone in this family has a big appetite, but nobody goes hungry [00:21:35.280] with Dad working in a new plant. [00:21:38.720] On Friday afternoon, or Saturday morning, [00:21:41.440] there's likely to be a traffic jam on Main Street. [00:21:44.560] Siler City is on the move. [00:21:46.960] No turning back now. [00:21:50.200] There are new stores opening up, [00:21:52.720] older stores are enlarged to serve new customers. [00:21:56.606] [music] [00:22:06.160] Workers from the plants flock into Belk-Yates. [00:22:10.160] The manager here is Paul Tool. [00:22:12.960] This year we've had the biggest increase since I've been in Siler City. [00:22:18.040] We've got a big increase as far as our chain as a whole is [00:22:22.840] concerned or in comparison with the other stores. [00:22:25.520] We're in the top twenty-five in percentage of gain. [00:22:28.840] Now, we feel like a lot of this has been caused by the fact that [00:22:33.080] the youth market is better in Siler City now than it has been before. [00:22:38.120] Our young people aren't leaving town and we've [00:22:40.810] got a lot of young people that are coming into town. [00:22:43.560] If you'll notice over here, we have a lot of children shoes and infant shoes [00:22:49.320] By the fact that are infants business has had such a good increase makes us realize [00:22:54.280] that there are a lot of young married couples in town now. [00:22:56.480] At the same time we've had real good increases [00:23:00.200] in our teenage merchandise, in shirts of this nature here, [00:23:04.200] which is an Ivy League shirt. It's sort of a fad-type merchandise [00:23:08.080] in the stripes and the solids of the different colors that the teenagers are wearing now. [00:23:14.480] I feel like that we should do everything possible to attract new industry in the town. [00:23:19.320] As merchants we do many things to induce customers to come into our store, [00:23:24.600] we have promotions. [00:23:26.200] And I feel like that it's necessary, [00:23:28.280] and I feel like that we should do the same thing in getting industry into our town. [00:23:32.800] And if we have to give some inducements to get them here, I think we should. [00:23:37.240] We're in a competitive business and [00:23:39.400] I think that's the only thing that we can do in order to get new industry. [00:23:43.680] This is Sam Wreathes, men's clothier. [00:23:46.640] Didn't know just how much the new industries were helping us. [00:23:51.880] And Dr. Mott Blair, who is president of the Siler City Development Corporation, [00:23:57.720] persuaded one of the new plants to pay off in two dollar bills. [00:24:03.600] Well, we merchants didn't know a thing about it, but we did notice that [00:24:07.800] we got in several two dollar bills. [00:24:10.340] I still have one of the two dollar bills. [00:24:12.640] I'm going to keep this as a souvenir. [00:24:15.920] This to me [00:24:18.000] is a real good [?] and a good way to find out [00:24:23.360] if the industry is really paying off us. [00:24:27.680] With more paychecks in the community, there are more banks. [00:24:32.240] Siler City now boasts two banks and several savings and loan associations. [00:24:38.760] There is even a new drive-in bank where [00:24:41.120] people make deposits and cash checks conveniently between job and home. [00:24:47.880] With more money circulating, new construction is booming— [00:24:52.440] a new A and P store, [00:24:55.480] new homes going up in pleasant residential sections, [00:25:04.880] a new motel for the increasing numbers of visitors, [00:25:09.560] new hospital with fifty beds and more being added, [00:25:14.440] new churches of several denominations, [00:25:18.720] a new consolidated high school with gym [00:25:21.600] and playing fields expresses the community's pride. [00:25:26.640] I like to make it a point [00:25:29.000] that there really isn't any exclusive quality that prevails in Siler City. [00:25:35.600] The things which we have done here can be done in other communities. [00:25:41.680] There is no geographic limitation on either brains or enterprise. [00:25:45.840] It is largely a matter of people knowing what they want, [00:25:49.040] knowing what they want to do, and agreeing among themselves [00:25:53.120] that in order to accomplish these things, they must work together. [00:25:57.360] It's not something drawn out of a hat. [00:25:59.880] It sometimes requires long years of preparation for industrial expansion. [00:26:05.960] It requires years of preparation for any sort of expansion. [00:26:09.960] And therefore, I should like to point out [00:26:12.000] that all over the state, all over the State of North Carolina, [00:26:15.680] and it is a great state, [00:26:17.360] there are hundreds, [00:26:18.880] if not more, communities which can do the same job, [00:26:22.920] which has been successfully done here and in other places in North Carolina [00:26:27.600] if only they will make up their minds that in so doing [00:26:31.400] and working together, [00:26:33.000] they can really be making a vital contribution, not only to their own [00:26:37.840] communities, but to the development of the state as a whole. [00:26:42.240] And behind this progress are sound plans for industrial expansion, [00:26:47.160] plans made possible by people working together. [00:26:51.680] These plans are taking shape in new industrial plants. [00:26:56.800] This site is one of those prepared by the Development Corporation. [00:27:01.680] There will be five hundred new jobs when this new plant takes its place [00:27:05.640] along with the others in the industrial skyline. [00:27:08.554] [music] [00:27:13.760] Siler City can say with confidence to its [00:27:16.720] young people and future citizens: welcome to work. [00:27:21.000] [music]