The Memphis onTNE Red!

The Memphis Cotton Oil Mill
  • Workers at the Memphis Cotton Oil Mill unload seed.
    Workers at the Memphis Cotton Oil Mill unload seed.
  • BALLEW JOHN R.
    BALLEW JOHN R.
  • A postcard of the Oil-Mill Feed Pens in Memphis. Photos Courtesy of John R. Ballew
    A postcard of the Oil-Mill Feed Pens in Memphis. Photos Courtesy of John R. Ballew
  • Photograph by W.D. Orr, an early days Memphis photographer, depicting completion of the Memphis Cotton Oil Mill. Judging by the appearance of the motor vehicles, what year do you think this photograph was taken?
    Photograph by W.D. Orr, an early days Memphis photographer, depicting completion of the Memphis Cotton Oil Mill. Judging by the appearance of the motor vehicles, what year do you think this photograph was taken?
  • The Memphis Cotton Oil Mill, 1910
    The Memphis Cotton Oil Mill, 1910

    The following is an excerpt from “Yesterday in Hall County, Texas” by Inez Baker, 1940.

    “Products from cotton, other than the lint, became known. The seeds, once burned or used to fill a mudhole, were found to be a vertible gold mine.

    After much labor by the citizens of Memphis, the Memphis Cotton Oil Company was formed in 1907. The capital stock of the company was $75,000, and the first officers an…