Hadley family influence still seen

Our History

The Hadley House is located on West Pine Street in Mount Airy and is one of the finest Queen Anne style houses in Surry County. It is believed to be the first local home which used local granite for much of its construction.

Mount Airy Museum of Regional History

Hadley, Smith & Company Plug Tobacco Factory was also located on West Pine Street. (Courtesy of Surry County Historical Society.)

This house, the home of William Hadley, the son of J. A. Hadley, was built around the same time as his father's house, next door to the larger structure.

Mount Airy Museum of Regional History

The Hadley family has a long and enduring legacy in Mount Airy. The first Hadley in Surry County was James Alfred Hadley, who moved here in the 1890s. Hadley was mayor for two terms, and his mark on the town remains most notably with the Hadley House on West Pine Street.

The J. A. Hadley House was reportedly the first home in Mount Airy to use granite from the area for a large part of the construction. Built between 1894 and 1900, the house is symbolic of the late 19th century building boom that Surry County experienced. Built in the Queen Anne-style, the three-story house's foundation, first story, and window sills were all constructed with locally quarried granite, while the second story and tower are made with brick. The original interior was ornate, featuring marble columns, and chandeliers of copper and brass.

J. A. Hadley was both a politician and prominent businessman, involved with several local businesses including tobacco manufacturing, a cotton mill (Hadley-Peoples Cotton Mill) in Siler City, and real estate development. At one time he had built and rented as many as 50 homes in the area. He served as Mount Airy's mayor for two terms, the first from 1898 to 1900 and again from 1903 to 1905.

Hadley's political influence extended beyond his mayoral term. Along with other prominent businessmen, J.A. Hadley was one of the signers of a denouncement of liquor in Surry County. This was in 1908 — the same year prohibition began in North Carolina.

Hadley-People's Cotton Mill began as Hadley, Peoples, and Company – a general merchandise company that started in 1887, which also bought and shipped cotton in addition to the sale of merchandise. The mill is thought to have been in operation by 1895, with around 60 people being employed there at the time.

J. A. Hadley was a co-owner of the Hadley, Smith & Company Plug Tobacco Factory, along with Alfred E. Smith, who was also the head of the National Furniture Company.

The Hadley, Smith & Company Plug Tobacco Factory benefited greatly from the economic situation the area was in at the time. Tobacco was a booming industry with more than 1,500 tobacco farms in Surry County in 1850. At one point in 1891 a newspaper reported five tobacco factories or warehouses under construction in Mount Airy.

The Hadley-Smith Tobacco Factory was located a short walk down Pine Street from the Hadley house. Though the building still exists on West Pine street, it has been abandoned for some time.

After Martin Memorial Hospital was destroyed by fire in 1953, Mount Airy's voters in Surry County approved a referendum to construct a new hospital, what is now Northern Regional Hospital. When a committee was looking for land on which to build Northern Surry Hospital in the late 1950s, J. A. Hadley's widow, Swannanoa Brower Hadley, donated the land for the site.

The ancestors of J.A. Hadley influenced many of the places they lived in, just as much as the mayor impacted Mount Airy. The Hadley family came to the United States in 1712, when Simon Hadley II and his wife Ruth took their six children and made passage to America from Ireland. The family eventually settled in Mill Creek Hundred, Delaware. It is believed Simon first built a log home for the family, but in 1717 it was replaced with a brick house. It is not certain, but it is believed the house that stands on the location is the same house this early Hadley ancestor built, now named the Hadley-Denison House. In Mill Creek Hundred, Simon Hadley served as Justice of the Peace for many years, as well as a judge. Many of his children moved to North Carolina, including Joshua Hadley. Joshua, who died 1760 in Cane Creek, located in Chatham County, had resided in either Virginia and North Carolina since at least 1748. The family remained in the Chatham County area, until J. A. Hadley, Joshua Hadley's great-great-grandson made the move to Mount Airy.

Katherine "Kat" Jackson is an employee at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. Originally from Australia she now lives in King. She can be reached at the museum at 336-786-4478.

Images

3. William Hadley, the son of J. A. Hadley, lived next door, with his house being built around the same time as his father's.

4. Hadley, Smith & Company Plug Tobacco Factory was also located on West Pine Street. Courtesy of Surry County Historical Society.