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 Garrard’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.
Marker is on Front Avenue 0 miles south of 9th Street, on the right when traveling north.
Courtesy hmdb.org
