Roberdel Mill is gone, village lives on

By John Myers, Internet Photojournalist

Roberdel lake was created when the mill and its dam for water power were constructed. starting in 1882.

Roberdel Mill is gone, but the community built around one of the earliest industries in Richmond County is alive and well, nestled around the banks of Roberdel lake and its dam.
The mill, dam and community of mill houses were built by the mill's founder, Robert Leak Steele, known as Robert L., hence the mill's phonetically spelled name: Roberdel.
Steele founded two earlier Richmond textile mills, Great Falls and Pee Dee, and located his third where he and his brother, Thomas J. Steele, had operated a grist mill since the late 1860s.
Steele began building Roberdel Mill and the community around it in 1882 on Hitchcock Creek three miles north of Rockingham, according to "No Ordinary Lives: A History of Richmond County, North Carolina, 1750-1900," authored by John Hutchinson in 1998.
Mill operation began in 1886. The original dam blew out in 1890 and "Steele personally supervised the placement of every rock in the dam that replaced it," Hutchinson writes.
Roberdel Mill was demolished, but Steele's work on the dam has stood the test of time.

'Mayor of Roberdel'

Jesse Sheppard, 86, is known as the unofficial "Mayor of Roberdel" because he operated the community water system after the mill closed in 1950. He stands in front of the Roberdel water tower and well, which has been inactive since Rockingham took over the community's water system a few years ago.

Roberdel resident Jesse Sheppard, 85, moved to Roberdel in 1946, the year after a huge flood in 1945 washed out Ledbetter Dam, Old Pee Dee No. 1 Dam and Midway Dam.
But the Roberdel Dam held. "It was built from stone instead of concrete, and the front face of the dam is sort of curved instead of flat. I guess that's why it held," he said.
Roberdel Mill was sold in 1946 to M. Lowenstein and the equipment was moved to Entwistle No. 1 Plant in Rockingham, which later became Aleo mill, according to "A History of Richmond County," authored by James E. and Ida C. Huneycutt in 1976.
Sheppard headed up a committee of Roberdel residents who organized themselves and took over operation of the mill's water and sewer system about 1950, he said.
Since he ran the village's water and sewer system, Sheppard became the unofficial "Mayor of Roberdel." He admits, "They claimed I was the mayor at one time."
There were 92 mill houses, Sheppard said, because that was the number of water taps he assumed maintenance for when the village committee took over the water system.
The village water tower and well still stands on Spivey Street, but the well was "capped off" when the City of Rockingham took over the water and sewer a few years ago, he said.
Sheppard said most of the mill houses had only one water spigot on the back porch when he arrived in 1946, but the houses did have running water in bathrooms for the toilets.
"The bathroom had a big tank over the toilet. Folks used to say it was the only bathroom that would give you a bath at the same time you were sitting on the toilet. When you flushed it, you'd better get back out of the way," he said.

When was Roberdel built? 1872, 1882, 1892?

The Roberdel Mill which was demolished a few years ago had the date 1892 on the front, Sheppard recalls.
Another Roberdel resident, Norman Gibson, said he recalls the date 1872 etched in the brick of an elevator shaft.
The Huneycutt's history of Richmond said the 1890 flood "washed away the dam and much of the mill." The mill and dam were "promptly rebuilt," the Huneycutts write. Perhaps the 1892 date remembered on the mill is when it was rebuilt after the flood.

Van James of Roberdel owns the former company store of Roberdel Mill, built about the same time as the mill in 1882. He plans to renovate the building as a convenience store.

Hutchinson writes Roberdel Mill began construction in 1882, and machinery was purchased and installed in 1884-85 with production beginning in 1886.
Hutchinson writes production began with white sheeting, but switched to "the famous Roberdel Southern silks" by 1890, which was "cotton cloth known widely for its perfect texture, color and finish."
Hutchinson writes "proud citizens called the new mill 'the most magnificent of all our cotton factories.'"
The mill buildings which survived until recent years were two two-story structures of 64 by 390 feet, providing about 100,000 square feet of floor space for the water-powered machinery.

First in education with high school

Roberdel can boast at least one "first" for the county. The Huneycutts write "the first high school with 11 grades to be operated in Richmond County was located in the Roberdel Community" opening for the 1907-08 school year.
Mill operators George and Sam Steele are noted in county school board minutes as providing $300 per year for support of the school.
Roberdel Post Office was established on Feb. 20, 1884, and operated until 1953.
The mill had a company store, still standing on Roberdel Road. It is now owned by Van James, who lives next door. He has plans to renovate the old building and reopen it as a convenience store to be operated by his teenage daughters.
Another of the original mill buildings sits atop the hill above the lake, the former mill superintendent's house, now vacant and used for storage by its current owner.
The only other remaining mill building is a former brick warehouse on Roberdel Road, which overlooks the site where the mill once stood on the banks of the lake.

Hidden riches at bottom of lake?

Joe Warner, a Roberdel native, inherited the night watchman's clock from the old Roberdel Mill from his father, the late Allie Warner, who worked in the mill and was night watchman after the mill closed.

A wooden foot bridge used to span the lake from the mill to the company store, and Roberdel native Joe Warner believes there are silver riches swallowed by the lake.
"The mill used to pay workers in cash, and they would tear open the paper envelopes as they walked over the gangplank to cross over the lake to the company store."
Warner said his father, the late Allie Warner, told him he saw many silver coins drop from pay envelopes into the lake as workers walked the gangplank.
Warner's father worked at the mill and became the night watchman at the mill after it closed. When his father retired, Warner said he continued the night watchman duties.
And when the mill was demolished, Warner saved one memento, the watchman's clock.
"It was probably one of the first time-clocks in the area," Warner said, but there is no date on the clock, only a manufacturer's name and address, Waltham, from Atlanta, Ga.
Warner lives in the former mill home that his father bought after the mill closed.
He said the mill owners allowed mill workers to apply their rental fees toward the purchase of the mill houses at the rate of 25 cents per room per month.
Warner said his father's "mortgage" rate to purchase the home was $1 a month.

Famous resident from mill hill

The bridge over Hitchcock Creek is the third since the mill and dam were constructed and is named for Dr. Jerry E. McGee, a former Roberdel resident who is now president of Wingate College.
McGee wrote a book about his childhood recollections of growing up in Roberdel entitled "The Sitting & Talking Place: The Story of a Man and his Grandson."
McGee's father died of Bright's Disease when he was only three months old. He spent his first four years living with grandparents in Hannah Pickett mill village in East Rockingham.
His mother remarried and the family moved to Roberdel, where McGee grew up.
When McGee was 10 the family moved to a larger house on the corner of Roberdel Road and Hudson Street, where the young boy got a new hound dog pet named "Mac."
McGee writes an "old fellow from Hogback Street" accused Mac of killing his chickens one midnight. McGee said his stepfather knew he slept with the dog and that the man must be lying when he came to the house and demanded the dog be killed.
McGee writes his father told the man from Hogback Street, "You owe this little boy and his dog an apology for accusing them. Now the only question is, are you going to apologize now or after I kick your sorry, lying tail up and down Hudson Street?"