Lowe Mill

In 1900,{{cite book |last1=French |first1=Terri L. |title=Huntsville Textile Mills & Villages: Linthead Legacy |date=2017 |publisher=The History Press |location=Charleston, SC |isbn=978-1-4671-3708-9 |pages=73–81 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/huntsvilletextil0000fren/page/73/ |access-date=29 December 2024 |chapter=Lowe Mill}} Arthur H. Lowe of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, formed Lowe Manufacturing Company, and began the building of Huntsville's fifth textile mill. Lowe Mill opened in 1901 with 25,000 spindles that helped to turn locally-grown cotton into woven cloth.{{cite web|title=A Brief Look at a Century of Lowe Mill |url=http://www.lowemill.net/about.php |publisher=Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment |accessdate=19 August 2011 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110811160920/http://www.lowemill.net/about.php |archivedate=11 August 2011 |url-status=dead }} In 1902, Eastern Manufacturing Company built the final large mill in Huntsville, a weaving mill across from Lowe Mill. Lowe Mill and Eastern Manufacturing merged their companies and the two buildings in 1904. The spinning mill supplied yarns for the weaving mills, where the highest grade ginghams and shirtings were made to supply large clothing manufacturers throughout the nation.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

In December 1932, Lowe Manufacturing declared bankruptcy, and the factory started back up again under Lowe Mills, Inc. in January 1933, with Donald Comer, head of Birmingham's Avondale Mills, as majority stockholder. In 1936, Lowe Mill changed hands again when Edwin Greene of New York became the majority stockholder of the renamed Lowe Corporation. In March 1937, Lowe Corporation was dissolved and the plant was sold to Walter Laxson and became a cotton warehouse.{{cn|date=February 2025}}

At the end of World War II, in December 1945, Nashville-based General Shoe Co. opened a shoe factory in Lowe Mill, employing up to 800 people. In 1959, General Shoe Co. became Genesco, Inc. Many US soldiers in Vietnam wore boots made at Genesco's Huntsville factory. In 1978, Genesco sold it and Martin Industries turned Lowe Mill into a warehouse for residential and commercial heating systems. In 1999, realtor Gene McLain bought Lowe Mill and then in 2001, sold it to Research Genetics founder, Jim Hudson, who is the current owner of Lowe Mill.{{cite web|title=Historic Lowe Mill |url=http://www.tvaresearch.com/project_lowemill.html |publisher=Tennessee Valley Archaeological Research |accessdate=July 13, 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140821185527/http://www.tvaresearch.com/project_lowemill.html |archivedate=August 21, 2014 |url-status=live }}

The mill currently houses Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment, which provides art studio and exhibition space for over 200 artists.{{cite news|last=Busdeker |first=Jon |title=Huntsville's Lowe Mill to add 30 first floor art studios by end of 2010 |url=http://blog.al.com/entertainment-times/2010/07/huntsvilles_lowe_mill_to_add_3.html |accessdate=July 13, 2013 |newspaper=The Huntsville Times |date=July 5, 2010 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121119163900/http://blog.al.com/entertainment-times/2010/07/huntsvilles_lowe_mill_to_add_3.html |archivedate=November 19, 2012 |url-status=live }} The mill and surrounding neighborhood were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.{{cite web|last=Bowman Wade |first=Bliss |title=Lowe Mill & Mill Village Historic District in Huntsville listed in the National Register |url=http://southhuntsville.waff.com/news/news/lowe-mill-mill-village-historic-district-huntsville-listed-national-register/56894 |publisher=WAFF |accessdate=July 13, 2013 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715205913/http://southhuntsville.waff.com/news/news/lowe-mill-mill-village-historic-district-huntsville-listed-national-register/56894 |archivedate=July 15, 2011 |url-status=live }}

{{reflist|1}}

• {{cite book|last=Ryan|first=Patricia H.|title=Northern Dollars for Huntsville Spindles|year=1983|publisher=Huntsville Planning Department}}
• {{cite book|last=Stephens|first=Elise Hopkins|title=Historic Huntsville: A City of New Beginnings|year=2002|publisher=American Historical Press|location=Sun Valley, Ca.|isbn=9781892724311}}

{{Commons category|Lowe Mill and Mill Village Historic District}}

• [https://lowemill.art/history/ Lowe Mill ARTS & Entertainment]
• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) documentation, filed under Huntsville, Madison County, AL:
• {{HAER |survey=AL-141 |id=al1232 |title=Textile Industry in Huntsville, Alabama |data=49 |link=no}}
• {{HAER |survey=AL-142 |id=al1233 |title=Lowe Mill |photos=19 |cap=2 |link=no}}
• {{HAER |survey=AL-142-A |id=al1234 |title=Lowe Mill, Paymaster's Office |photos=1 |cap=1 |link=no}}
• {{HAER |survey=AL-142-B |id=al1235 |title=Lowe Mill, Warehouses |photos=2 |cap=1 |link=no}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in Alabama}}

Category:Industrial buildings completed in 1901

Category:Textile mills in Huntsville, Alabama

Category:Historic American Engineering Record in Alabama

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Huntsville, Alabama

Category:Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Alabama

Category:Historic districts in Huntsville, Alabama

Category:Cotton mills in the United States