Built in 1898 by
Thomas F. Lloyd, it was formerly a
cotton mill known as the Alberta Cotton Mill. By 1913, it had become one of the world's largest hardwood cross-tie makers, shipping them on train tracks adjacent to the mall that continue past Carrboro to the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1909, the
Julian Carr family bought the mill. The mill closed by 1930. In 1945, the mill re-opened and remained open until the 1960s. In 1974, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen voted to have the building torn down to build a shopping mall on the site. The complex now houses numerous restaurants and stores as well as commercial office space on its upper levels. The song "
Freight Train" by
Elizabeth 'Libba" Cotten was inspired by the train that ran on the
State University Railroad spur past her house on Lloyd St, and which served the needs of Carr Mill. Cotten wrote the song in the early 1900s, as a young teenager. ==References==