Rhodhiss, NC

Rhodhiss grew around a cotton mill on the upper Catawba River. John M. Rhodes and George B. Hiss invested in a mill village with a horseshoe-shaped dam, electric generator, general store, and worker houses; Rhodhiss Manufacturing opened in 1902, and the town incorporated in 1903. A railroad spur, the mill complex, and a steel bridge tied the settlement to the textile economy spreading across North Carolina. The name itself preserves the partnership that created the town.

The Catawba River still runs through the center of Rhodhiss, just east of Rhodhiss Dam, dividing the town between Caldwell and Burke counties. Textile production later shifted through Pacific Mills and Burlington Industries, whose local facilities made industrial fabrics, snow fencing, and nose cones for military missiles; the town's history page also links that work to flags carried to the moon. Today the town maintains its own water, sewer, public works, police, fire, and parks services. Rhodhiss is a river-and-mill town whose municipal map still follows the infrastructure built around the dam and the factory.