701 W. Rice Street

The Denison Cotton Mill was built in 1890 on the south edge of Denison and was the largest cotton mill west of the Mississippi River.  Cotton was grown, picked, and hauled to the cotton mill.

Dallas Times Herald
2 March 1890
DENISON COTTON MILL 
Denison, Tex., Feb 20 -- The directors of the Denison Manufacturing Company have awarded the construction of the cotton mill to W. C. Green of Chicago.  The contractor will remove a steam brick making plant worth $20,000 from Kansas, and work will begin on the foundation in about 30 days.  The mill will be a brick, four stories and basement, three hundred feet long, one hundred wide, and cost with machinery, about $500,000.

early postcard
Cotton Mill
Denison, Texas

Products included cotton duck and other materials.  
The workers at the Cotton Mill lived around the mill and their children attended the Golden Rule Elementary School.
During World War II the plant at Denison provided the armed forces wtih cotton duck.

Just fifteen years after the mill's beginning, it was purchased by brothers W.B. Sr. and J.T. Munson.  The business was family operated with W.B. Munson, Jr. became manager in 1912 and President upon his father's death.  Upon W.B. Jr's death, his sister Eloise became President in 1936.  The son of W.B. Junionr became President in 1955 until the mill closed in 1977.

The Denison Cotton Mill was incorporated Aug. 5, 1905 by W.B. Munson to acquire the pictured plant facility that was built prior to 1890.  W.B. Munson helped create Denison in 1872 and he founded this and many other business activities that continue contributing to its economy.
The operation of the mill was greatly expanded by W.B. Munson, Jr., who managed the company until his death in 1936.  At that time Miss Eloise Munson was elected President, and she directed company affairs along with her other business activities.  
The current president, W.B. Munson III, has managed the company since 1949 with the addition of multiple shift and an expanded product line.  The company is owned by fifty-seven stockholders, residing in six states with the largest stockholder owning less than ten per cent of the stock of the company.  On March 30, 1972 directors, officers and employees were : (see list above)

The four-story building burned to the ground in 1981.

Bryant & Hunt, Denison, Arcadia Press, c2011, pg.86-87.

Denison Index