Whisnant Hosiery Mills

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

Whisnant Hosiery Mills is an industrial building on 2.35 acres at 74 8th St. SE in Hickory, Catawba County. It took its present form in stages, with construction in 1929, 1937 and 1966, in the Commercial Style.

Why it's listed

It was listed in the National Register in 2013 under Criterion A, with local-level significance in industry. Its period of significance runs from 1929, when the mill site was purchased, to 1966, when the company's last addition doubled the mill's size.

Physical character

The walls are brick, with concrete, stucco and metal elsewhere, and the roof is rubber. The complex includes a triangular dye house and a two-part warehouse, with steel and metal trusses supporting corrugated-metal and acoustical-tile ceilings inside. The facade of the 1929 section was remodeled with tan brick veneer and a revised parapet in 1966, and windows were later covered with plywood panels in the 1970s.

Historical context

Land for the mill site was purchased in 1929, with additional parcels added in 1932, 1938 and 1939, and Whisnant Hosiery Mills was incorporated in 1945. Mill president Ernest E. Whisnant acquired his brother Clarence's interest in the company in 1948. The mill closed in 2011 and was vacant at the time of its listing.