Jacob Elsas and the Fulton Bag & Cotton Mill

Born in 1842, Jacob Elsas settled in Ohio in 1861 from Württemberg during a wave of European-Jewish immigration. In 1865, Elsas moved to Cartersville, Georgia, opening a trading store. Recognizing a shortage in manufactured bags, Elsas relocated to Atlanta, establishing what became Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills. The Atlanta-based mill offered millworkers housing and welfare services. Unlike his contemporaries, Elsas employed both Black men and women, leading to the Strike of 1897, when White workers demanded Elsas fire twenty Black women. A strike in 1914-1915 over working conditions was one of the longest in US history and brought national scrutiny to Southern labor practices. Jacob Elsas helped establish the Georgia Institute of Technology and Grady Hospital. He died in 1932 and was buried in Oakland Cemetery. All operations at this location permanently ceased in 1981.