THOMASVILLE,
NORTH CAROLINA is a thriving little city of five thousand people situated
on the Southern Railway between High Point and Lexington.
John
W. Thomas, the grandfather of the druggist, Mr. Charles Thomas, built the
first house in 1852, thus founding the town of Thomasville. When the North
Carolina Railroad came through, there were hundreds and hundreds
of acres of forest land with hardly a cleared field.
Mr.
Thomas died about leaving a large family who sold off lots from this immense
section. People began to come in and build, but the growth of the new village
was slow, for by 1880 there were only about three hundred people. In 1900
there were 752.
The
first, activity to awaken the town was the organization in 1895 of the
Thomasville Manufacturing Company by A. E. Clement who came from Vermont,
and F. S. Lambeth. This factory was situated on the site where the Thomasville
Furniture Co., is now owned and run.
In
January 1898 Mr. F. S. Lambeth withdrew and started the ThomasviIle Chair
Company. From that time growth and progress have marked
the town.
From
752 people in 1900, the census of 1910 shows 3, 800, a growth. surpassed
in North Carolina by only one town; Rocky Mount, with its Railroad shops
being the only town to show a larger increase in population.
This
remarkable growth is due to the manufacture of chairs and to other enterprises.
There are now about fifteen wood working plants, two cotton mills, and
numerous other industrial and commercial establishments.
Forty
years ago chairs were made in Thomasville by D. S. Westmoreland, and from
an unimportant and almost ignored industry has sprung the mighty business
which has earned. for Thomasville the name of "The Chair Town of the South."
When the factories here are all running they make 6000 chairs per day:
During
the development and growth of the factories John Lambeth was mayor, but
not only were the mayor and the citizens looking after the industrial growth
of the town, but interests of an intellectual nature were not neglected,
for during this period in 1902 bonds were issued and the first graded school
was built.
While
the building was being erected, Prof. J. T. Henry was superintendent. Prof
. Hauss followed him and has ever since held this responsible position
to the satisfaction of the patrons of the school.
Not
only has Thomasville this modern, well equipped and well-manned town school
but there is a branch school for the overflow of pupils in the Amazon Cotton
Mill section.
Ask
any citizen of Thomasville what is the town's best advertisement, and he
will without exception, answer "The Orphanage." This