Old Fort Finishing

United Merchants and Manufacturers, Inc., built the Old Fort Finishing Plant in 1946 as a subsidiary for dyeing and finishing rayon fabrics. Constructed on the site of the old tannery, the huge brick factory building still stands alongside Mauney Avenue and Lackey Town Road but is now mostly vacant. At its peak, the textiles plant employed a thousand people and processed up to two million yards of fabric daily. Its closing in 1984 dealt a huge economic blow to the town.