John F. Torrey, Site of Early Mill and Factory
New Braunfels, Comal County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1821- 1893) Pioneer promotor of Texas industry. He operated a flour, grist and saw mill, a sash, door and blind factory (1850), a cotton factory (1863) and the first woolen factory in Texas. With indomitable spirt he rebuilt the plant, after partail destruction by tornado and floods, until all was swept away.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John F. Torrey was one of early Texas's most determined industrialists. On this ground in New Braunfels he ran a cluster of enterprises—flour, grist and saw mills, a sash-and-door factory, a cotton mill, and what the marker calls the first woolen factory in Texas—rebuilding again and again after tornado and flood damage until the works were finally destroyed. His story captures how frontier manufacturing was pieced together by individual grit in a state still better known for land than for factories.
Why it matters
Torrey's mills show the seeds of industry taking root in mid-19th-century Texas, a reminder that the American manufacturing story ran well beyond the Northeast.
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Related people
- · John F. Torrey
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