In 1931 Clark Thread Company opened a spinning mill here, boosting the local economy during the Great Depression by creating approximately 650 new jobs. Baled cotton was spun into unfinished thread, which was then shipped to a finishing mill in Toccoa to be bleached, dyed, and spooled. Except during World War II, when the company had government contracts, the only product made here was industrial thread sold to clothing manufacturers. In 1952 the company merged with J &P Coats Limited to form Coats & Clark, Inc. In the early 1980s, the strength of the dollar against the Japanese yen made imported thread less costly than producing it locally, leading to the mill's closure in 1983.