Flowers Farm Cotton Press, State Route 1826, Morven, Anson County, NC

Significance: The farm of John Flowers, located in the Cairo Community near Morven, was one of the largest in Anson County. Flowers at one time owned over forty slaves and nearly three thousand acres. He cultivated typical North Carolina crops: corn, wheat, beans, peas, and potatoes. He also produced large quantities of cotton, enough to gin twenty-one bales in 1850, and thirty-five bales in 1860. According to local tradition, the cotton baling press was built in the 1850's with the help of a German millwright. It stood adjacent to a cotton gin house and lint room. Pressing was the final step in preparing raw cotton for market. After the cotton was ginned and the seeds removed, it was carried to the baling press, which was driven by two mules. As many as eleven laborers worked at the Flowers Gin and Press Complex. The Civil War disrupted the small plantations of Anson County. Most gins and presses were destroyed by Kilpatrick's cavalry near the end of the war. But the Flowers Gin and Press survived and operated as a public gin for the remainder of the nineteenth century. Finally, a shortage of cheap labor and the competition of steam-powered public gins and presses in nearby towns rendered the plantation complex obsolete. The Flowers Gin was destroyed early in the twentieth century, and in 1976 the abandoned press stood in a peach orchard.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-1
Survey number: HAER NC-1
Building/structure dates: ca. 1830 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1976