Jacob Elsas Family Papers

Born in Wurttemberg, Germany, dry goods retailer Jacob Elsas, a Union Army veteran, arrived in Atlanta in 1868 from Cartersville, Ga., via Cincinnati, Ohio. The 26-year-old merchant operated three businesses by 1870, advertising the Fairmount jeans brand name in his Star Store on Whitehall Street, today's Underground area. When Elsas shifted from retail to manufacturing, he joined forces with Isaac May, forming Elsas, May & Company in January 1872. The two Jewish immigrants from Germany established the Southern Bag Factory, located on Pryor and Mitchell streets on the second floor of Atlanta's old slave market house. By early 1876, the partners chartered the Fulton Cotton Spinning Company, soon to be one of the two earliest cotton mills in Atlanta. The spinning mill produced cotton bags for flour and feed grains. In 1881, Fulton Cotton Spinning purchased the eight-acre historic Civil War ruins of the Atlanta Rolling Mill destroyed by the Confederacy to prevent it from falling into Union hands in September 1864. The mill opened with 12,000 spindles and 450 looms. The first homes in Cabbagetown, then called Factory Town, were also built in 1881.