Crown Mill Historic District

Crown Mill Historic District in northwest Dalton, Georgia, combines a cotton factory with the village built for its workers. The mill opened in 1884-85 and grew through additions in 1894, 1897-1900 and 1903. A second mill followed in 1906-07 and was enlarged in 1915-16. Warehouses went up in the late 19th century, in 1923 and in the 1940s. The brick buildings have load-bearing walls, segmental arches and slow-burning timber interiors, and railroad sidings serve the complex. The village sits on a knoll beside the factory. It holds several dozen modest frame houses of five basic types, prefabricated by the Farrar Lumber Company of Dalton, along with a company store, a school, recreation areas, a spring and reservoir, and the mill owner's house. The district was noted as exceptionally well preserved, with few disfiguring alterations. Parts still produce carpet yarn, while the 1894 office now holds a local historical archive.