Welcome to “Company Shops.” This was the name given to a new town – essentially a “planned community” – that was created in 1855 to grow up around the North Carolina Railroad’s new maintenance and repair facility in Alamance County, N.C.
The site, near the
community of Graham, was the midway point along the line of the North Carolina
Railroad (NCRR) that connected Charlotte and Goldsboro.
Benjamin Newton
Trollinger of Haw River, a state legislator and a prominent textile
manufacturer, promoted transportation improvements within the state, and he
became a great supporter of the North Carolina Railroad,” wrote historian Larry
W. Fuqua, a regular contributor to NCPedia.
Benjamin Trollinger
However, residents of Graham, the county seat of Alamance County, “did not like the idea of the noise, smoke and activity the railroad would create,” Fuqua said. “The town passed a law prohibiting railroad tracks from coming within one mile of the courthouse.”
Trollinger put together a land deal package that was about two miles outside of Graham. He sold a 632-acre parcel to NCRR, so it could proceed with building the railroad shops complex that became known simply as the Company Shops.
The late Dr.
George W. Troxler, former president of the Historical Society of North
Carolina, said that construction of the repair facility began in
the summer of 1855, and “workmen in the shops were capable of completely rebuilding
engines, constructing boxcars and repairing all of the railroad’s equipment.”
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“In addition to the shops, the workers erected a passenger and freight station, houses for workers and three larger houses for railway officials, one of which served as company headquarters,” Dr. Troxler noted.
Lots were sold for private residences, and “the railroad placed a clause in all deeds prohibiting the operation of ‘any house of ill fame, or house for the sale of spirituous or fermented liquors or for any species of gaming on said lot.’”
Meanwhile, Trollinger and
his partner and brother-in-law, Dr. Daniel Archibald Montgomery, became large
contractors for the railroad line, working between Alamance and Wayne counties,
Dr. Troxler added.
“They made brick and built bridges over Haw River, Back Creek and both crossings of the Eno River at Hillsborough. They also ran steam sawmills for the purpose of cutting ties for the railroad.”
On Jan. 21, 1856, the
first train ran the completed length of the 223-mile corridor from Charlotte to
Goldsboro.
A spokesperson with Alamance County’s historic preservation group said: “When the iron horse arrived in Alamance County, locals referred to it as ‘the eighth wonder of the world.’”
Storyteller Michael Sheehan of Chapel Hill said local newspapers provided extensive coverage. He cited one article:
“…A hundred people stared in open-eyed wonder at the strange monster….This was indeed a proud and glorious day for old Alamance.”
“It was to celebrate the completion…of the North Carolina Railroad, which has been considered the greatest public blessing ever conferred on the county and has done more than any other one thing to aid her material development and promote her manufacturing interests….”
Shortly after the shops were finished in 1857, the railroad company decided “to build a hotel boarding house” at Company Shops, said Walter Whitaker, a local historian.
“Miss Nancy Hillard took
over its management, and soon the fame of her culinary skill spread all along
the railroad. Trains were stopped for 20 minutes at the village to allow
passengers to eat lunch in the massive hotel dining room.”
The village of Company
Stores got an official U.S. post office in 1858. Daniel Worth became the first
postmaster. There’s more to his story….
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