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Item Name
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Sunshine Hosiery Mills
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Creator
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Nyandiang Mangluak
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Lede
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Light industry Downtown
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Story-Subject
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Although the building ceases to exist, Sunshine Hosiery Mills was a booming hosiery factory once located on S. Church Street. Founded in 1920 by Francis Garant and his father, the mill provided jobs to the community shortly after World War I. Hosiery was big business during the 20th century in Middle Tennessee. On average, workers could make up to $7.00 per week for working 70 hours.
Mabel Robertson, who was once the oldest person in Murfreesboro worked there as a young woman. She was just 17 years old when she began and worked as an inspector for 15 years, earning roughly $7.25 a week. Upon her 106th birthday in 2017, she was given a photo of herself working at the mill in 1928.
Sunshine Hosiery Mills closed its doors 1952, after surviving through WWI, the Great Depression, and WWII. By 1954, the building was auctioned off and by 1987, the remainder of the property was demolished. The Sunshine Hosiery Mills company transformed fashion for many women.
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Subtitle
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Historic Hosiery Mill
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Subject
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Historic Hosiery Factory
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Source
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File #4: “thumbnail_image.png”
Arnette, Charles B. From Mink Slide to Main Street. Nashville: Williams Printing Co, 1991. pages 56-57.
File #5: “thumbnail_image (1).png”
Tennessean Newspaper 16 May 1926
File #6: “image.png”
Map from 1924, Sanborn Map, page 7. and 1931-1945 Sanborn Map
File #7: “thumbnail_image (2).png”
(Panoramic Photograph from the Rutherford County Archives. Photograph of Otis Lamb c, 1940, Courtesy of John Lodl of the Rutherfod County Archives
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Related Resources
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Arnette, Charles B. From Mink Slide to Main Street. Nashville: Williams Printing Co, 1991. pages 56-57 .
Esh, Connie (2017). Remarkable Rutherford Woman: At 106, she may be county’s oldest person. http://rutherfordtnhistory.org/remarkable-rutherford-woman-at-106-she-may-be-countys-oldest-person/
Mazza, Sandy (2019). Once Nashville's biggest business, the sock mill that clothed astronauts and fought Nazis is transforming.
https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2019/05/27/may-hosiery-mill-nashville-sock-factory-readies-tech-future/3692995002/
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Bibliographic Citation
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Nyandiang Mangluak, “Sunshine Hosiery Mills,” Momentous Murfreesboro , accessed September 11, 2025, https://momentous-murfreesboro.mtsu.edu/admin/items/show/2.
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Title/Location
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Sunshine Hosiery Mills
