DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — and friend, this one's worth your time. Now, the year is 1891, and somebody in Sherman, Texas has got a big idea. North Central Texas is cotton country, and cotton needs bags — seamless bags, to be precise.
So the Sherman Seamless Bag Mill gets founded right here, and on March 18, 1891, they seat a board of directors: C. A. Andrews, Edward Eastburn, W.
C. Eubank, Thomas Forbes, J. F.
Jaques, J. C. Jones, Tom Randolph, Z.
E. Raney, and J. C.
Tassey, who takes the chair. Nine men. One mill.
And a vision for serving every cotton gin and farm operation across the region. They wanted that original building to have some dignity, so they shipped an elegant cornerstone all the way from Cromwell, Massachusetts, down to Sherman, Texas. Think about that — the cornerstone alone had to make the journey south before a single wall went up.
But those early years? They were not kind. Financial problems came calling, and the plant opened and closed and opened again, intermittently, like a man who can't quite make up his mind.
It was a rough go of it. Then, in 1906, a new hand picked up the cards. Wellington-Sears Company out of New York acquired the mill, put up new buildings, and narrowed the focus down to one thing: single-filling flat duck.
That's a type of heavy woven fabric, and Wellington-Sears decided that was the future of this place. Forty years later, in 1946, Ely Walker and Company of St. Louis, Missouri stepped in and purchased the operation.
Under their watch, wide sheeting became the main product — another pivot, another era. By 1955, the mill had merged into Burlington Industries, Incorporated. A giant in the textile world.
And a year after that merger, in 1956, somebody finally did what you always wonder about with old cornerstones — they opened it. Now here's where the story gets its best flavor. Inside that cornerstone, sealed away since 1891, were old coins.
Newspapers from 1891. A timetable for trains running to Indian Territory — the marker makes a point of telling you that Indian Territory is now the state of Oklahoma. And then — saloon tokens.
And a menu from the Binkley Hotel Coffee Shop. Someone in 1891 looked at that cornerstone and thought: let's put in something real. Something that says who we were, where we went, what we ate, and what we drank.
And sixty-five years later, it all came tumbling out. A portion of that original structure still stands — not as a relic, but as a working part of the modern plant. And through Burlington's international organization, whatever gets made on this site finds its way to market places throughout the world.
From a bag mill serving North Central Texas cotton farmers, to a cornerstone full of saloon tokens, to the global market — that's one long road for one piece of ground in Sherman, Grayson County.
What the marker says
Sherman Seamless Bag Mill was founded here in 1891, to serve the cotton industry of North Central Texas. Elected to board of directors on March 18, 1891, were C. A. Andrews, Edward Eastburn, W. C. Eubank, Thomas Forbes, J. F. Jaques, J. C. Jones, Tom Randolph, Z. E. Raney, and J. C. Tassey to serve as chairman. Elegant cornerstone was shipped from Cromwell, Mass., to go into the original structure. Suffering from financial problems during those early years, the plant operated and closed intermittently. Acquired in 1906 by Wellington-Sears Company of New York who added buildings and centered production upon single-filling flat duck. Purchased, 1946, by Ely Walker & Company of St. Louis, Missouri; wide sheeting became main product. Merged into Burlington Industries, Inc., 1955. Cornerstone of original building opened 1956. Disclosed old coins, 1891 newspapers, timetable for trains to Indian territory (now state of Oklahoma), saloon tokens and menu from Binkley Hotel Coffee Shop. A portion of the original structure remains as a useful part of this modern plant. Through Burlington's International organization, products made here are sold in market places throughout the world. (1967)