PF Gladfelter, a maker of cigarette paper, sold the mill to Purico, just the year before. The Transylvania County mill had been operating since 1939 and its employees that once numbered 3,500 were well paid.
Matt MattesonBut union-management disputes reached an impasse and the new owners locked out the workers. Some contend Purico had no intention of reinvesting in the Ecusta Mill and closing it was simply a business decision. Still, after the mill was shuttered, many locals held out hope that they could attract another industry and that Norfolk Southern trains would run again on the 19-mile Hendersonville-to-Brevard spur line. Five years after the mill closed, the property was sold to Renova Partners, a Massachusetts firm that specializes in old industrial sites. Renova pitched a new use for the 527-arce tract and got it zoned for a mixed use complex named Davidson River Village. The project would have no need for rail service.