CityView Magazine

CityViewNC.com | 53 FAYETTEVILLE HISTORY 'Mill-Dam at Fayetteville' BY WEEKS PARKER We hope you enjoy this recurring feature by history buff Weeks Parker, who owns an impressive collection of local memorabilia and photos that he has agreed to share with CityView readers. A former Presbyterian Ju- nior College band director, Parker is the author of 12 books on a variety of subjects, including "Fayetteville, North Carolina: A Pictorial History." I n 1775, John Newberry built a mill on Cross Creek at the northwest corner of what is now Old and Green streets. e establishment and prosperity of that mill were largely responsible for the emergence of Cross Creek as a vibrant trading center. e mill was later taken over by Robert Cochran and then by Richard Cochran, who ran it until 1805. At that time, it was sold to John D. Eccles, for whom Eccles Park was named. Although the mill was destroyed by the great fire of 1831, it was soon rebuilt on the same site. Between 1840 and 1882, the mill was operated by a man named McDaniel and by Clark Troy. In 1882, James Dobbin McNeill bought the mill and operated it until his death in 1927. It was then taken over by his son, George McNeill. e mill closed in 1940 and was later almost destroyed by fire except for the first floor, which remained unoccupied for several years. e property was sold to the city of Fayetteville, which demolished the remains of the old mill and turned the land into a city parking lot. On the McNeill Milling Co. stationery were inscribed these words: "is Mill Was Here Before e Town Was and Will Be Here When e Town Ain't." One of the earliest recorded views is shown in the painting titled "Mill-Dam at Fayetteville." e painting by Charles Catton, an English immigrant, is estimated to date from 1801 and 1819. It depicts the mill on Green Street, Eccles Mill Pond and residential structures in the background, as well as men casting for fish and watering their horses. The McNeill Milling Co., on the corner of Old and Green streets. operated from 1882 until 1940. Left, this is the oldest known painting of the mill dam on Green Street in Fayetteville.

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