EAST CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI 267 cotton seed warehouse were built between 1900 and 1906. About twenty miles south of Meridian, near Enterprise, Daniel Dupree, John Harland, and M. M. Brooks constructed a cotton mill opened in late 1868 and named it in honor of Stonewall Jackson. The mill was powered by a steam engine to operate 2204 spindles but used country hand looms to weave cloth. It wasn’t long before the Stonewall mill installed fifty-two power looms and began weaving sheeting. Unfortunately, the mill had financial difficulties, but in 1875, T. L. Wainwright reorganized the plant and within a few months he stopped the losses and turned a small profit. By 1882, the capacity of the Stonewall Manufacturing Company mill had doubled and a second mill was added. Alden Spinning Mill was established in 1909 and employed 250 workers operating 5,000 spindles. H.M. Threefoot established the Lauderdale Cotton Mills on the outskirts of Meridian in 1911. The mills manufactured prints and colored fabrics and employed 250 to 300 workers, mostly farmers who had crop losses because of the boll weevil. Mill workers settled into communities such as Georgetown and Tuxedo Park. Sometimes entire families, including underage children, worked in the mills A 1908 Mississippi law established ten-hour work day and a fifty-eight-hour work week and prohibited children under twelve from working factories. Although county health officers were required to monitor conditions in the factories, investigations found that several mills used underage workers. Investigators observed working hours at the mill and located the homes of children workers to collect more data. Photos showed girls under the age of sixteen working on the production lines. Child mill workers could put in at many at sixty-three hours a week and they rarely attended school. The Mississippi legislature strengthened child labor law in 1912 with a newstatute prohibiting girls under fourteen and boys under twelve from working in industrial establishments. Older youths could only work an eight- hour day. Jewish Contributions in East Central Mississippi Citizens of the Jewish faith transformed the railroad town in Lauderdale County into one of the most Eastern cities in the South. In 1872, Mark and Hannah Winner started Winner and Klein department store, located at 22nd Avenue and Fourth Street. In the late 1860s, Abraham Threefoot, (original surname Dreyfus) began his establishment with his sons H. Marshall, Kutcher, and Lewis. The Threefoots were Meridian’s main wholesaler and retailer of groceries. They were also makers of leather goods and buyers of cotton. Israel A. Marks opened a SPEAKING PAVILION The Neshoba County Fair is one of the most important political gatherings in the state. Above, the Speaking Pavilion at the fair is where politicians deliver speeches each summer.