Sources

Corriher Mill
Landis, NC
Circa 1913
(Building Certification #1.001)

In the early twentieth century, the cotton industry brought the city of Landis, North Carolina, to life. Aware of the success of cotton in nearby towns, prominent landowners—many from the Linn family—organized and chartered the Linn Mill in 1900. The following year, the city of Landis was officially incorporated. By 1909, the Linn Mill was in such demand that plans for another mill were underway. The Corriher Mill, named for another prominent family in the town's genesis, opened in 1913.

For 60 years, generations of families worked alongside each other in the Linn and Corriher Mills. Landis Town Administrator Reed Linn, whose grandmother worked at the Corriher Mill, confirms, "The town was built around the mills and textiles."

By the mid-1970s, the mills had merged to form Linn-Corriher Corp., which boasted sales of more than $35 million and employed 1,400 people. Later the business was sold to a Canadian firm, which in turn sold it to Parkdale Mills of Gastonia in 1996. Though Parkdale officially owned both mills, townspeople continued to refer to them by their original names.

Today, the old Linn Mill still operates, but the former Corriher Mill has been vacant since 2003. While no longer financially viable in the textile industry, the Corriher Mill soon met a new demand: the growing need for renewable resources. With 235,000 square feet of flooring—the equivalent of more than four football fields—Corriher Mill yielded approximately one million board feet of lumber. By reclaiming this vintage wood, Turning House was able to save approximately 19,000 trees on 47 acres of timberland (provided the average full-grown tree measures 10 inches in diameter and stands 25 feet tall and that 400 such trees grow on one acre).

Sources: The Architecture of Rowan County North Carolina: A Catalogue and History of Surviving 18th, 19th and 20th Century Structures by Davyd Foard Hood; 1975 Linn-Corriher Corp. Annual Report; "How It All Started and Where It Went," Salisbury Post, March 6, 2001; 2008 Interview with Reed Linn, Landis Town Administrator.