Hazelwood: Center of Diversified Industry

If Champion Fibre Company provided jobs off the farm in eastern Haywood County, the various industries located in Hazelwood did the same on the western side of the county. These men are working in the oldest of these industries, Junaluska Leather Company, established in 1896. They are using tannin, extracted from the bark of Haywood’s oaks, chestnuts, and hemlocks to process leather for shoe soles. Purchased by A.C. Lawrence Leather Company in 1931, the tannery was a major employer in Haywood County for many years. In 1984 the plant had 125 employees and processed an average of 800 hides a day. It closed in 1990.

Over the years, other industries came to Hazelwood: a textile mill, furniture plants, a rubber factory, and a shoe factory. The industries not only altered the face of Hazelwood but the very rhythm of life. Former Hazelwood Mayor Mary Ann Enloe recalls when she was growing up that she didn’t know anyone with an alarm clock. The town worked to the sound of the factory whistle, following its cues all day long. Across the county, the seasonal demands of farming were joined by the year-round demands of time clocks, schedules, and shift supervisors as industries gradually bought up more and more farmland.

Photograph courtesy of Henry Foy, The Haywood County Library Digital Collection