While the name changed 3 times, the town of Spray can be dated back to 1813. James Barnett purchased 1700 acres of William Byrd's Land of Eden. His tract was the eastern border of Leaksville and extended across the Smith River. Barnett built a wooden dam across the river and dug a canal 4200 feet southward along the bank to what is known as Tackett branch where the fall was enough to turn a large water wheel used to grind corn or wheat. This grist mill was just east of Leaksville at the end of what is now Boone Road. The areas was known locally as Leaksville Factory.
In 1835 John Motley Morehead bought the entire tract of land and mill and Canal from the Barnett family. He brought John Hall Bullard from Massachusettes to build a a cotton mill using the canal to power the equipment. The new Mill was the second step in the creation of one of the largest manufacturing operation in the entire Southeast. With the mills construction came workers and managers. The area around the mill soon became a settlement of several hundred people. The Civil War stalled growth, but the Morehead Mills supplied blankets to the Confederate Army. At the end of the war, Major James Turner Morehead became the family member responsible for the Mill and its growth.
Under J Turner Morehead's leadership the Mill increasted production. Originally a cotton mill, the complex added a Woolen Mill to spin yarn from Morehead's own sheep. A railroad was finally built from Danville. While only a narrow gauge line it did provide access to national accounts. When the original railroad company went bankrupt, James Turner Morehead was made receiver and after some merging the Danville and Western railroad became the connection to Danville. Known locally as the “Dick and Willie” it remained a narrow gauge line until 1903.
In 1892 J. T. Morehead formed a new company with a Canadian chemist to find an economical way to smelt aluminum. By accident, the group discovered an easy way to produce acetylene. Morehead was able to take the new discovery and it grew to become Union Carbide. The process used in the production called for a lot of electricity and the new business located elsewhere.
In 1898 B. F. Mebane had married Lilly Morehead. He became the leader of the Morehead interests. With the addition of new mills, Spray Cotton Mill, Nantucket Mill, the Lilly Mill and others Mebane set about building a mill a year. He raised money from Northern industrialists to fund this growth. Mebane had several hunting lodges on Morehead land on the east side of the Smith River and he entertained some of the wealthiest of the so-called “Robber Barons” in hunting.
Mebane created a web of companies to organize each mill. Management remained under his control. By 1912 his northern backers wanted to see a return on their investment but there was no money to provide the funding to satisfy them. Marshall Field in Chicago had become Mebane's major customer and they acted to protect their source. Marshall Field thus ended up with the ownership of all of the Morehead families interests except for Spray Cotton Mills and the original Morehead Cotton and Woolen Mills. Marshall Field pored money into modernizations and new construction. The large YMCA was built and became the center of community life.
As the mills grew a new name in the community appeared. Luther Hodges, grew up in Spray, attended the “Little Red School” and worked as an office boy in the mills as a teenager. He graduated from UNC. He returned to Spray with Marshall Field and rose rapidly to become a Vice President of the Company. Elected as Lieutenant Governor, then Governor of North Carolina. Hodges next served 4 years as Secretary of Commerce in the Kennedy/Johnson administration.
A major change occurred in 1953 when the mills were sold to Boston investment group and renamed Fieldcrest Mills. Hereafter the profit would be measured in stock prices.
The fifties and sixties were good years for the growth of the town. Harold Whitcomb became the new head of the local mills and he was a force in the next big change that brought Leaksvile, Spray, and Draper together as the City of Eden.
~ Article provided by James 'Jimmy' Ivie, Eden Historical Museum Curator.
