The story of Asaph Perry

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CANTON STORY LINE
Opening Railroad Line Canton Cotton Mill Busy Downtown Growth and change

Now connected to major markets through the railroad, Canton could bloom. The largest growth industries in the late 19th Century would be Cherokee County's cotton and marble industries, and to a lesser extent, the small but thriving tobacco industry in the Salacoa Valley. The Canton Cotton Mill emerged out of this industrial growth and quickly became the county's largest employer. Canton's population grew and this growth resulted in a new commercialization and sophistication that accompanies their worldly exposure. Asaph Perry personified these emerging trends. He represented a new breed of rural southerner; one whose travels broaden his taste and expanded his interests.

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Extending the Story - The Effects of Industrialization on Southern Society

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Writing the story

Asaph was a new breed, experienced in business and willing, almost expected, to take economic chances. We wanted to position Asaph as a symbol of a new cosmopolitanism that began to envelop the South. Despite the protests of critics such as H.L Mencken, southerners like Asaph were interested in a larger world and well schooled, but deeply connected to their homes and traditions.