Historic Spencer isn’t a ‘mill town’

Thanks for the front page article about Spencer by Brad A. Hodges.

Basically it was a good article, but the reference to “mill houses” in Spencer is far from accurate. The connotation of “mill houses” is cheaply built cookie-cutter houses. Historic Spencer is full of beautiful Victorian homes, built by private contractors. And they are some of the best-built homes in the county. Actually, when the Southern Railroad established the Spencer Shops, care was taken to avoid the appearance of a mill town. It is true that there are several homes with the same or similar architecture, but there are numerous different designs, and all of them lovely. It was especially jarring to see the home of Cara Reische and Jon Palmer referred to as a “mill house.”

Spencer was never a “mill town” in the way Kannapolis was. It was a town where most of the residents worked for the railroad, but the railroad did not own the town, or build the homes.

Also, in reference to the present Historic Spencer Shops, the annual visitation is more nearly 150,000. The visits of “Thomas the Tank” last year drew about 14,000 each week for the two weeks it was here.

— Larry Ayers
Spencer