Laurel Hill Cotton Factory (Lincolnton, NC) (1849 - 
also known as the Ivy Shoals Mill  ( - 1884) and the Elm Grove Cotton Mill (1884 - 19##)
Organized: 1848
Operational: 1849 (continued into 20th Century)
Location:  1/2 to 3/4 mile west from the town of Lincolnton, at the conjunction of the river and the Morganton and State Road. Twenty-five (25) acres of land on both sides of the South Fork of the Catawba River, including a shoal; about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile west of Lincolnton.
Founders: Andrew Motz and E. S. Barrett
Specifications: The factory was 70 by 40 feet, four stories high.
Spinning equipment came from the Charles Danforth & Company in Patterson, NJ. 
Seven (7) 36-inch cards; 1 Drawing Frame; 4 Spinning Frames of 132 spindles each (in 1851); 3 Reels, 1 Picker & Willow; two (2) 14 Bobbin speeders; 1 Grinding Machine.
Notes: The Laurel Hill Cotton Factory was located on the South Fork of the Catawba River, 1/2 to 3/4 mile west of the Lincolnton courthouse, by the firm of Motz, Barrett & Company. According to contemporaneous newspaper reports, spinning yarn commenced on October 1, 1849 at the mill, with looms starting later that fall. 
    In the 1850 census of industry, the Laurel Hill Cotton Factory had an invested capital was estimated at $14,000. 
The mill employed 5 men and 15 women for cotton yarn production. Wages amounted to $1,380 annually.
Producing cotton yarn and carding some wool, the mill's annual raw materials cost an estimated $15,000 for cotton. The mill's annual output was valued at $20,825, leaving an estimated annual profit/compensation for the owners of $4,445.
    When Motz died in 1851, the firm informally was known as Barrett, Motz & Company for a very short time, before being named the E.S. Barrett & Co.
    The cotton factory was sold later to John F. Phifer and R. W. Allison. It was renamed the Ivy Shoals Mill until 1884, when Phifer died. The mill was later renamed the Elm Grove Cotton Mill.
    In 1911, the Elm Grove Cotton Mill had 4,000 spindles.

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