Empire Mills
G.W. Woodruff began grist operations in 1861 on this site previously occupied in 1847 by E.T. Taylor Cotton Gin Company and in 1841 by William Waters Gerrard´s cotton warehouse. Empire Mills ran night and day during the Civil War and was spared in 1865 when Union Troops burned all non-food-producing industry in the city. By 1887 it was the largest meal and flour mill in the South, operating 36 roller mills with a capacity of 600 barrels of flour per day. Empire also produced Graham flour, bran, grits, and cornmeal -- all ground on eight runs of horizontal stones, some of which are displayed on this site.
Plaque courtesy Lat34North.com.
Original page, with additional info, here.
Photo credit: Byron Hooks of Lat34North.com.