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Page 10 · column 6 of 6 · from the scan, no model involved
Laurel Mills
Historic District
Despite the relatively modem machinery and power, considerable labor was also required to operate what was, for Rappahannock County at least, a rather considerable factory. As with many of the other rural industries of the mid-to-late 19th Century, a small company town grew up around the mill. Tenant houses, a company store, and other structures became part of the Laurel Mills landscape.
Like the wool processing, workers were arranged in three tiers. A single manager was in charge of the entire operation. Below him were salaried and hourly workers. Over the 30 years when the mill was in its prime two salaried employees received $145 (1898) to $225 (1927) per annum for their services. If Rappahannock seems rural today, it was even more so in the early 20th Century. Consequently numerous employment incentives were part of the non-cash compensation. These ‘perks’ included housing, a milk cow, vegetable plot, meat, flour, and com as well as the right to pickup ‘windfall’ apples in a local orchard.
If the salaried folks seem overpaid (it’s a joke) the hourly worker ‘schedules’ were not much either, perhaps 50 cents/ day around 1920. In one case at least, it was recorded that a female worker received nearly twice the hourly wage of her husband (Worked twice as hard? Job twice as difficult? Enlightened reverse discrimination?... Anybody’s guess). Housing was also available if needed for the lower-level workers .And most everyone had an account at the company store; no accounts of deep indebtedness to the ‘sto’, but hey, it’s America, credit is king, so best not to look too closely.The store survives to the present as the Laurel Mills Store.
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