Mid-Atlantic was chosen by the Town of Cooleemee to help implement their recently awarded $200,000 EPA Brownfields Assessment grant. The project will consist of conducting Phase I and Phase II Environmental Site Assessments, developing a clean-up plan, and consutling as the project moves through the North Carolina Brownfields Program.
The main cotton mill was constructed by Erwin Mills (DBA “Cooleemee Water, Power & Manufacturing Company” and the “Cooleemee Cotton Mill”) around 1900. A cloth room, dye house and bleachery were later added around 1905. In 1962, Burlington Industries acquired Erwin Mills and its Cooleemee plant. In 1993, Burlington demolished the old town square’s commercial buildings and by 1964 began construction of an addition to the mill on its northeast side. Cloth production ended in 1969 but smaller Burlington operations continued within the mill structure that included warp beam-making and dying under its Versatch Division until the early 1990s. The new and old sections of the mill structures are approximately 600,000 square feet on a property of 16.9 acres surrounding the mill. The Town envisions the mill being redeveloped with residential, retail, institutional and even light industrial uses.