By Staff
Early memories
Harmon Rasberry was a child in the 1920s when one of the cotton mill's most successful presidents, T.L. Wainwright, gave each employee their own cow to ensure they had fresh milk.
Harmon's wife, Novaliene, remembered how the cows were still around in the 1940s.
At night, on his way to one of the town's two theaters to catch the latest picture show, Harmon would sometimes run into one of the cows that freely roamed the street.
Even though the mill had been the heart of Stonewall, few of its current residents many of whom worked at the mill at some point in their lives have directly felt the loss.
Of Stonewall's 1,148 residents, only 75 actually worked at the mill when it closed.
City effects
Stonewall Mayor A. D. Gilbert, who worked at the plant for 50 years, said the town is just starting to feel the financial pinch caused by the closing.
Gilbert said Stonewall also had to cut two workers from the water department to make up for the loss in revenue that had been generated by Burlington.
Empty streets
Without Burlington, few people have a reason to stop and visit Stonewall anymore.
Vacant, run-down buildings line the town's main thoroughfare, Erwin Road. Most of the remaining businesses are small convenience stores and automobile shops.
Up the road, at the town's industrial park, the parking lot is empty. Perfect Promotions, an embroidery business, left town earlier this year for a bigger location a few miles up the road in Meridian.
But not all of the town's 24 businesses are doing bad.
Stonewall even has a new eatery on the west end of Erwin Road The Depot Cafe. Sherri Napp opened it four weeks ago in a building that once housed a grocery store and most recently a pool hall.
Another business doing well is Ramey's Food Store across the street from the old mill.
The future
Vallie Molony, the town's librarian, said everyone in Stonewall is taking a "wait-and-see" attitude about what happens next.
Whatever happens, most residents say they will continue to keep their memories of Burlington fresh on their minds and hope a new company will occupy the mill soon.
The Rasberrys once lived in a company-owned house that they rented for $1.50 a week. Today, they live in a house they built on the the west side of town, about two miles from the mill.
They say won't forget how good things used to be. Marked reminders of the Burlington plant are plentiful throughout the Rasberrys' home, including hundreds of pictures and other memorabilia.
Just in front of the garage door, visitors wipe their feet on an oversized, faded, blue-and-yellow Burlington floormat. The mat was given to the Rasberrys by Burlington in 1973 in celebration of the mill's success.