Lupton City is a neighborhood of

Chattanooga Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia, it also extends into Marion County on its western end. With a population of 181,099 in 2020, ...

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, United States. The community developed in the 1920s as a

mill town A mill town, also known as factory town or mill village, is typically a settlement that developed around one or more mills or factories, usually cotton mills or factories producing textiles. Europe Italy * ''Crespi d'Adda'', UNESCO World Her ...

, a

planned community A planned community, planned city, planned town, or planned settlement is any community that was carefully planned from its inception and is typically constructed on previously undeveloped land. This contrasts with settlements that evolve ...

that contained the Dixie Spinning Mills thread mill and housing for its workers.

History

Chattanooga businessman John T. Lupton established the Dixie Mercerizing Company around 1920 to manufacture thread using the

mercerizing Mercerisation is a textile finishing treatment for cellulose fabric and yarn, mainly cotton and flax, which improves dye uptake and tear strength, reduces fabric shrinkage, and imparts a silk-like luster. Development The process was devi ...

process, which had been introduced in 1913. The company built its thread-

spinning Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

facility and the adjoining housing area on a tract north of the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, ...

, outside the city limits of Chattanooga. In 1923, when production began, the spinning mill had 12,000

spindle Spindle may refer to: Textiles and manufacturing * Spindle (textiles), a straight spike to spin fibers into yarn * Spindle (tool), a rotating axis of a machine tool Biology * Common spindle and other species of shrubs and trees in genus ''Euony ...

s; by 1925 there were 30,000 spindles. Lupton City provided modern worker housing near the mill, as well as community services such as a school, post office, and church, and amenities such as concrete sidewalks, a gym, a movie theater, and a swimming pool. Medical care was available from a doctor and dentist employed by the company. By 1929, Lupton City had 200 homes. For most of its history, Lupton City had a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

. Homes in the community did not have mailboxes or residential delivery, so residents picked up their mail at the post office, which used ZIP code 37351. In 2006 the post office was closed temporarily due to structural problems with the building that housed it, and residents were instructed to get their mail at the Hixson post office. The

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U. ...

and the building owner provided money to the city of Chattanooga to buy mailboxes for Lupton City postal customers, and the post office closed permanently on July 18, 2009. Lupton City is now part of the city of Chattanooga. The yarn mill no longer operates in the community as

Dixie Yarns Dixie, also known as Dixieland or Dixie's Land, is a nickname for all or part of the Southern United States. While there is no official definition of this region (and the included areas shift over the years), or the extent of the area it cover ...

, and has been torn down. All that remains is the bricks of the mill.

References

{{authority control Neighborhoods in Chattanooga, Tennessee Company towns in Tennessee