The Textile industry continued to dominate Carroll County’s economy after the Second World War. In 1952, over half of Carrollton’s industrial employees worked in eleven textile plants, earning recognition by the Cotton Manufacturers Association of Georgia as “A Pattern City for Progressive Georgia.”
While more traditional cotton mills like Mandeville and Banning Mills eventually declined and closed, entrepreneurs opened new types of textile industries to serve more specialized markets.
In 1954, Printed Fabrics Corporation, a New York company, purchased Mandeville Mill #1 and moved its manufacturing from Pennsylvania to Carrollton to avoid unions and find cheaper labor. Printed Fabrics was one of several local businesses that screened prints onto fabric. The company eventually acquired the second Mandeville Mill building and utilized one for printing, constructing a new addition to accommodate its larger equipment and the other mill for a warehouse. At its peak, Printed Fabrics employed over three hundred workers. It closed in 2002.
The last president of Mandeville Mill, J.R Newell Sr., launched his own company in 1954 on Lovvorn Road The mill manufactured cotton rope, decorative twisted yarns for upholstery, automobile seat covers, and knitted outerwear. Carroll Mills, established in 1924 on Bradley Street in Carrollton, made yarn braids and knitted tubing for the meat industry. In Villa Rica, Mary Ann Industries, established in 1981, produces carpet padding which is distributed throughout the United States.
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