It's been two years since I've been back home. I live and work in Canada, but was raised a Carolina Boi. With the border open, I got to head home (Gastonia NC) and see family and friends. Hugged my Mama and cried like a kid! So much has happened since I was last home. While there, I stopped and took a photo of the main plant (although the view from the highway shows the Mann & Hummel sign, but from the backside, you see the water tank with the Wix colors. I've got some family that still work there. When me and the kid brother were children riding our bicycles, we would race when we heard the train horn to watch it pass. On the 'other side of the tracks', we would watch as the rail cars would be backed down the siding and workers would unload pallets of raw cotton into the factory building. I suspect that Wix was founded in Gastonia because it was once the largest center of yarn spinning in the world (all of Gaston County was). Today, few mills are left and those that are employ far fewer than in the past. (you can tell the old parking lots are only 20 % full with the plants running full speed). Lots of skilled workers who knew the terms, Carding, Blending, Braiding, etc. are mostly gone to other trades now. Since cotton was one major source of cellulose for filter elements, it makes sense that the Wix founders would have found their way here.
