![]() ![]() Mill Workers at AvondaleMany Avondale employees enjoyed the corporate welfare Avondale Mills offered, but difficult economic times often brought demands for more benefits. And although Donald Comer promoted his corporate welfare efforts to boost the public image of Avondale Mills, the results for the workers were often the same: affection for the Comer family and Avondale Mills. And programs designed for children may have really been directed at their parents in an attempt to keep parents happy with the care their children received. The Comer family certainly had economic motives for keeping labor contented. Understanding the motivations for this largess is complicated. One dollar's worth of scrip could be purchased for $0.80, giving operatives a 20-percent discount at the mill village store because its prices matched those in the downtown stores. Avondale paid its workers in cash, but operatives also could purchase company scrip. Avondale Mills also owned Camp Brownie on the Coosa River, which offered boating opportunities for employees and their families. At one point, Avondale even provided a canning plant, though employees had to pay for the cans. Comer's sons, supervised the construction of Drummond Fraser Hospital, a 35-bed hospital for Avondale workers. ![]() Mill operatives could live in the mill village, which had a dairy, a poultry farm, and other amenities. The company built schools, which sometimes also welcomed children from the community, as well as churches. Comer, however, located sanitation facilities inside and the company charged only $0.75 a week for housing out of a salary of $12.00 to $20.00 a week. Outhouses were often located between or behind the houses. Mill owners typically provided housing for workers and little else. The Catherine Central Plant and the Eva Jane Plant employed almost 3,000 people. Avondale's impact on Sylacauga was heightened by the presence of five plants in the county. The company's arrival in Sylacauga, for example, was described by a local historian as the most important event in the town's history, although Sylacauga had other industries, including Sylacauga Brick Yard and the Moretti-Harrah Marble Quarries. Also, even when children were employed to sweep the floors, a fairly safe activity, they were absent from school.Īvondale Night SchoolKnown to mill workers as "Boss," Donald Comer earned the appreciation of many workers, who were known as operatives, and his efforts generated a sense of pride in the Avondale Mills communities. A misstep around a running machine was much more dangerous than getting tired in an open field. The relentless pace of the mill, however, endangered children because they often did not have the stamina or physical strength to work long hours. On the farm, children worked hard but at their own pace with no penalty for stopping. Labor reformers noted that there were important differences between farm work and factory work. Comer claimed that families demanded their children have the opportunity to work hence he simply responded to the will of his employees. Some families reluctantly allowed their children to be employed at the mill, but other families, which were accustomed to all members laboring on the farm, often welcomed the opportunity for their children to work and earn a paycheck. One historian documented 187 children (out of 774 employees) ages 8 to 15 working in the Birmingham mill in 1900. Comer provided to his workforce, he and the company have been criticized for their extensive use of child labor in the mills and for opposing legislation to restrict such labor. Comer's daughters also taught elsewhere, including Sylacauga.ĭespite the amenities B. Comer also established a kindergarten at the Birmingham mill that was directed by his daughters, Mignon, Catherine, and Eva. African American workers were also allowed separate time to use the facilities. The mills closed at different times during the summer to allow employees to visit the camp. Later named Camp Helen, the park had a large central building with a number of scattered guest cottages. He purchased land near Panama City, Florida, and created a beach-front park (now Camp Helen State Park) where members of the Comer family and Avondale workers could swim, boat, and fish. One of Comer's first initiatives was to provide a place of respite for all of his workers. He controlled their working conditions at the mill, and by providing housing, recreation, and places of worship, he controlled much of their private lives as well. Child Workers at an Avondale MillComer's relationship to labor never progressed past his strong plantation-paternalism, an attempt to control almost every aspect of the mill worker's life. ![]()
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