{"nrhp_refnum":"11000509","name":"Chatham Manufacturing Company-Western Electric Company","other_names":["National Carbon Company"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"750 & 800 Chatham Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Winston-Salem","county":"Forsyth County","state":"NC","lat":36.10395593900006,"lon":-80.25431801899998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2011-08-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A former woolen blanket mill and later industrial complex on a triangular parcel about one-half mile northwest of downtown Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina, at 800 Chatham Road. Its main mill was built in 1907 and additions were made through 1962.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the complex is significant for its role in North Carolina's woolen industry under Chatham Manufacturing Company and later for defense-related production by the National Carbon Company and Western Electric Company. Architecturally, it is presented as one of Winston-Salem's oldest textile-related mills, with a heavy timber frame and brick main mill and intact industrial additions through the early 1950s.","narrative":"Heavy timber and brick industrial complex on Chatham Road in Winston-Salem, centred on a three-story woolen mill begun in 1907 by the Chatham Manufacturing Company. The company, founded in Surry County and expanded to Winston in 1906, became a major blanket producer and dominated North Carolina's woolen industry in the following decades. During the Second World War and the Korean War, the United States government owned the complex and leased it to the National Carbon Company, which made submarine batteries and underwater detonators for the Navy. Western Electric occupied the plant from 1946 until 1966, producing military communications equipment and later switches and circuits for telephone networks. The surviving buildings, dating from 1907 to the early 1950s, show the fire-resistant mill construction of the period and the steel and concrete systems used in later additions. The complex is regarded as one of the city's oldest textile-related mills and as a record of the industrial growth of the area.","period_of_significance":"1907-1961","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Western Electric closed the plant in 1966; some buildings were demolished in the 1980s and a parcel was subdivided.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:40.838057-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/20/7202/47720220/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/11000509.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000509/b431f487bd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000509/b431f487bd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Alexchatham","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chatham_Manufacturing.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Alexchatham</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chatham_Manufacturing.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"04001394","name":"North Cherry Street Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/north-cherry-street-historic-district-04001394/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720220","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_Manufacturing_Mill","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q55075227"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/forsyth-county/chatham-manufacturing-company-western-electric-company-11000509/"}