Site of C. W. Morris Cotton Gin

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Site of C. W. Morris Cotton Gin in Edom, Van Zandt County.

Now, every small Texas town has got something at its center, something that holds the whole place together. In Edom, that thing was the cotton gin. And the story of that gin is the story of a community, plain and simple.

It started in 1918, when a man named Ro Dike opened a ginning operation right here on this site. He hadn't always been here. He moved that operation in from Davidson, about three miles to the west.

Brought it right into Edom and set it running. Then in 1924, a local merchant by the name of C. W.

Morris took ownership. Morris owned and operated that gin, and under his watch it became something this town genuinely depended on. Not ten farmers.

Not a hundred. Some seven hundred to eight hundred farmers depended on that local cotton gin. Think about that number for a moment.

Seven hundred to eight hundred people, with their livelihoods tied to what happened inside that building. For approximately four months every year, in the late summer and into the early fall, most activities in Edom revolved around ginning. Not some activities.

Most activities. In peak season, that gin was known to run twenty-four hours a day. Around the clock, no stopping, because the cotton wasn't going to wait.

Now, here's where things take a hard turn. In 1929, the original Continental Gin Company machinery burned. Gone.

But Edom didn't fold up. That equipment was replaced with modern diesel-powered machinery, manufactured by the Murray Gin Company. The gin came back, and it came back with more to offer.

Through the 1930s, that gin processed an average of three to four bales of cotton per hour. In a single hour. You start doing the arithmetic on a twenty-four-hour day at that rate, and you begin to understand what this place meant to Van Zandt County.

But things change. The gin shut down around 1946. Seven hundred to eight hundred farmers, twenty-four hours a day, three to four bales an hour, and then, quiet.

That's how a chapter ends in a small Texas town. Not with ceremony, just with stillness where the machinery used to be.

What the marker says

As was the case in so many small Texas towns in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the cotton gin in Edom was a major element in the economy. First opened at this site in 1918 by Ro Dike, who moved his ginning operation here from Davidson (3 mi. W), the gin was owned and operated by local merchant C. W. Morris beginning in 1924. For approximately 4 months in the late summer and early fall, most activities revolved around ginning. Some 700 to 800 farmers depended on the local cotton gin. In peak season the gin was known to operate 24 hours a day. The original Continental Gin Company machinery burned in 1929 and was replaced with modern diesel-powered equipment manufactured by the Murray Gin Company. During the 1930s the gin processed an average of 3 to 4 bales of cotton per hour. The gin shut down about 1946. (1999) Incise on base: Historian: John Bryant Beall