The Roswell Manufacturing Company was a textile mill complex built by Roswell King (1765-1844) and his son Barrington King (1798-1866), who also served as its first president. The first mill opened in 1839 and a second one was added to the complex in 1853. By 1860 the company produced cotton cloth, yarn, rope, and tenting in the two factories and opened a factory store. During the Civil War, the mill manufactured supplies for the Confederate States of America and uniforms for the Confederate Army. When the Union Army invaded Roswell in July 1864, General Sherman ordered the destruction of the mills. Shortly after the war, the 1853 mill was rebuilt, and in 1882 a new mill opened. In 1926 a fire destroyed both the original 1854 mill and the rebuilt 1853 mill, neither of which was ever rebuilt. In 1923, William Gillies Broadfoot (1887-1961) of Wilmington, North Carolina, bought the Roswell Manufacturing Company and changed its name to Roswell Mills, Inc. In 1947 Southern Mills, Inc. purchased Roswell Mills and operated it until 1975.