Who Erased Dan River Mills?

Maybe its pure paranoia but doesn’t it appear that someone has a giant eraser over Danville and is trying to rub out the memory of the mill? Is this some kind of plot or is it really true? If so, who is behind it? OK kiddies get out your “Clue” game….was it done by Col. Mustard, in the conservatory, with the candlestick? Out of fantasy and into reality.

First, we have a large company that at one time employed over 8,000 Danvillians, suddenly crushed and sold off. We can all blame NAFTA, foreign competition, or the economy but the fact remains it disappeared. To find out who made this quiet giant go away I have a clue. Go into the bathroom, stand in front of the mirror, and look. The person staring back at you is the person who most likely destroyed Dan River. The American consumer decided that sheets from Taiwan at Walmart were ok instead of the Dan River Collection. So we bought the sheets and our money sailed over the ocean and with each dollar we sucked a life out of the mill. We all laughed when that little guy who ran for president told us that NAFTA would create a huge “sucking sound” as jobs went over seas. We all ignored him and laughed it off. And that’s why we lost Dan River.

Its easy to understand the economics that lead to this point but who or what is erasing the memory? The mill gradually shut down and the machines fell silent. We no longer had to worry about “mill traffic” on the Robertson Bridge. Oh how we now would long for the days to sit in a traffic line because of all the employees at the mill. When you said you worked at “the mill” no one had to ask what you were talking about. The mill was Dan River, and it was good. It clothed our people, provided a roof over their head, and put meals on the table. And every year it provided that trip to Myrtle Beach. The first week in July you were more likely to run into your neighbor at the Grand Strand then on Riverside Drive. Danville’s “mill week” was so great that other businesses closed down and the city was abandoned for fun in the sun. The few Dan River employees still working used the week to lower the river water and clean out the intakes. You could see all the way to the bottom of the Dan River (We swam in that?). And all was good…….

Dan River had some close calls like when the slicer/dicer Carl Icahn came to town to suck the life out of the mill. The city united, fought back the aggressor, and saved the mill! But the mill could not fight its biggest enemy….time. Danville could not fight this. The watch could not run backwards. It was the beginning of the end.

And so it came to be. The mill fell silent, the grass grew and the mill began to be erased.

Next, the symbol of Dan River, the Recreation Center, fell to the wrecking ball and corporate greed. We allowed a soulless entity to erase the Rec Center from the scene and covered up the wound as if it never existed. One more memory wiped away.

It became easier to erase the memory. The next move in this cosmic story was to eliminate the mill itself. The West Main St mill was quickly sold off. Soon swarms of workers moved over the complex ripping it apart, devouring its contents, until just the skeleton remained. The destruction was not complete until the bones themselves dissolved. It was like a weird episode of CSI. Here today, gone the next. The mill slowly melted away and like rotten fruit it was absorbed into the landscape.

Next came the Long Mill complex. It also fell victim to the wrecker’s ball. Like a vortex it gradually swirled and slowly began to erase itself from the scene. The eraser was on the move.

Now this terrible plague began to eat away at the biggest symbol of all----the home of Dan River Fabrics sign. The eraser began making each letter just a memory. One by one they vanished from the skyline. Only the eerie glow of the cutting torch penetrated the dim light. Like an unexpected amputation it was there one day and gone the next. The symbol of a once great company was vanishing into the mist. The erasing of a memory will soon be complete. Soon the city will have no record of the company that embraced the city.

Somewhere in a nondescript room a smiling individual slid the chair back from the desk. The light was almost gone as the night enveloped the room. He leaned forward to switch on the desk lamp but hesitated and slowly fell back into the chair. He put the tips of his fingers together and placed them on his chest. The index fingers tapped against each other and the individual pondered the situation. He gazed down at the worn map of Danville that was sprawled on his desk. The map at one time identified all the mill sites in town. Now there were just worn spots on the map where the words Dan River once appeared but were now erased. His eyes searched the map and saw no other indications of any mill memories. He slowly folded the creased map and placed it in his briefcase. He opened the center drawer and slid the pencil into it. Hmmm he noted. The eraser was almost worn down to nothing. His hand rummaged through the desk and emerged with a pencil with a new eraser on it. He placed it next to the lamp base. Might need this he thought to himself.

A few minutes later he walked the abandoned halls and stepped out the door. He was greeted with a gust of cold October wind. He gripped his briefcase and slowly descended the long granite steps. With his free hand he pulled his coat tighter against his chest. His eyes faced forward as he passed the cold figure of Harry Wooding. He hesitated a minute. What was that? As he passed the statue he could swear he heard a voice. “Be ashamed, be very ashamed…….” the voice whispered. Must be the wind he thought, playing tricks.

Tomorrow was a busy day……………more erasing to be done.