Excerpt
from...
Hard
Times, Good Times
A
Hundred Year History of Thomaston Mills
This
commissioned history of a textile company and the family that
ran it was written from extensive archival research and in-depth
interviews with 37 managers and employees of the company.
The following excerpt concerns the company's 1952-1972 CEO,
Julian Hightower, who began working at the mills in 1920.
From
the building of the Bleachery until his retirement, Thomaston
Mills' minutes cover proposal after proposal of Julian Hightower's
for upgrading and replacing equipment in order to create an
ongoing competitive edge for Thomaston Mills. During the years
the company was in receivership, most of his proposals were
placed on hold. "When I came to work, during the Depression,
it was obvious the machinery was being held together with
baling wire," recalled Billy Hightower. "Julian had managed
to get some twisters for tire fabrics, but everything else
was worn out. This place was sitting on the ground. We had
gone about as far as we could go without an oil change. And
our competitors were also beaten to a pulp. As we came out
of receivership, every penny Julian could lay hands on went
toward retooling with the best machinery manufacturers had
to offer."
But the
continual upgrading temporarily stopped again in 1937, when
Europe found itself at war. George Hightower remembers, "Once
World War II came, you couldn't get equipment. All you could
do was wear out what you had. When I came here in '46, after
the War, everything was worn out again." But as soon as both
American and European manufacturers turned from the manufacture
of military items to textile machinery, Julian Hightower was
jockeying to get Thomaston Mills' name at the head of their
lists of orders. His was a never-ending campaign to keep the
company technologically ahead of the pack.
Numerous
people tell of Mr. Julian's ability to walk through a mill
and know if a piece of machinery was operating at greatest
efficiency by merely listening to it run. J.W. Howard insists,
"If a machine across the room was knocking, he could walk
right to it. He could hear a shuttle bouncing half way across
the room." He was also a hands-on type who was quick to roll
up his sleeves when repairs were needed.
And he
was equally exacting when it came to matters of cost. "He
was all business," says C.E. Perdue. "You had to prove yourself
to Mr. Julian. Having been a manufacturer, he was highly concerned
about what everything would cost. In his mind, he knew the
operation so well, he could tell if you were off even a little
bit on cost projections."
Mr. Perdue
also observed, "He had a vision. Mr. Julian could see ahead
of people. For example, he built that lake out there to store
all the water the mill needed."
That
vision extended beyond the needs and concerns of the company.
While the machinery Mr. Julian installed has long since been
replaced, he did leave Thomaston and Upson County a lasting
legacy in architecture and public facilities. His nephew Billy
Hightower recalls, "Julian was great on building things and
was driven by a keen sense of duty. It was more than a hobby
with him. He could have been happy spending his entire life
building." Elinor Plowden Boyd adds, "My grandfather was very
interested in quality. Anything he got involved in, he wanted
to last. He believed that quality meant long-term economy
because quality required less upkeep and repair costs." And
in his self-effacing way, Mr. George Hightower explained a
difference between himself and his uncle. "I was a concrete
and brick man. Blacktop it and let the rain run off; that
was my style. What Julian built had character. He was always
concerned with how to make something beautiful."
From
the day he came to work for the company, Julian Hightower
had a hand in the selection of the architects and design engineers
for every major construction project of the company, as well
as the public buildings and facilities the company and the
Hightower family helped finance.
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