1 of 3 Architects drawings show the concept for a proposed redevelopment of the Linden Cotton Mill in Davidson. (Lat Purser & Associates) 2 of 3 Architects drawings show the concept for a proposed redevelopment of the Linden Cotton Mill in Davidson. (Lat Purser & Associates) 3 of 3 Architects drawings show the concept for a proposed redevelopment of the Linden Cotton Mill in Davidson. (Lat Purser & Associates)
A Charlotte company wants to redevelop the 130-year-old Linden Cotton Mill in downtown Davidson as offices, shops and maybe a brewery or restaurant. But the factory also once made asbestos products, and the five-acre site is contaminated. In Part 3 of WFAE s series Asbestos Town, environmental reporter David Boraks looks at the status of the redevelopment and concern in the historically African American neighborhood around it.
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An aerial photo of the Linden Mill, later the Carolina Asbestos Company, with smokestack, in downtown Davidson. Main Street and Davidson College Presbyterian Church are at the bottom. The photo is probably from the 1950s or 1960s.
Here s a familiar story in the Charlotte region: An old brick textile mill is turned into something hip a brewery, apartments or a food hall. It happens all the time, but attempts to redevelop a 130-year-old cotton mill in downtown Davidson have failed. The problem is cancer-causing asbestos. It s buried on the site, and it s been an environmental hazard to the historically Black neighborhood that surrounds the mill.
Asbestos is also scattered across the town and buried in neighborhoods where it was once used as fill material in people’s yards. Along with health and environmental concerns, there’s a deep sense of distrust among some longtime residents. Many in the town’s historically Black neighborhood have lost loved ones to what they believe were asbestos-related diseases. Listen • 20:46
On Feb. 1, WFAE reporter David Boraks moderated a discussion with Davidson Mayor Rusty Knox, developer Mark Miller and Linda Reinstein, president of the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, on the impact of asbestos contamination on a historically Black neighborhood in the town and efforts to redevelop the site of the old Linden Mill, where the asbestos originated.
Community Conversation:
Join us 7 p.m. tonight for a discussion about what s happening with the town s asbestos removal and the possibility for redevelopment at the old Linden Mill.
The event is free, but
In this hourlong special, we ll hear stories about asbestos at an old, brick textile mill in Davidson, North Carolina, and how redevelopment might solve the problem. We ll learn how asbestos got into both the historically Black neighborhood nearby and elsewhere in town and how it s being cleaned up. And we ll talk to residents worried about how fixing one problem might contribute to another gentrification.
Rather read than listen to the audio? Read the transcript.
Listen • 7:35 1 of 3 Architects drawings show the concept for a proposed redevelopment of the Linden Cotton Mill in Davidson. (Lat Purser & Associates) 2 of 3 Architects drawings show the concept for a proposed redevelopment of the Linden Cotton Mill in Davidson. (Lat Purser & Associates) 3 of 3 Architects drawings show the concept for a proposed redevelopment of the Linden Cotton Mill in Davidson. (Lat Purser & Associates)
A Charlotte company wants to redevelop the 130-year-old Linden Cotton Mill in downtown Davidson as offices, shops and maybe a brewery or restaurant. But the factory also once made asbestos products, and the five-acre site is contaminated. In Part 3 of WFAE s series Asbestos Town, environmental reporter David Boraks looks at the status of the redevelopment and concern in the historically African American neighborhood around it.