According to W. S. Mills, Mc. D. Moore created an industrial community in 1872 three and a miles southeast of Canton. Within a red-painted, two-story building known as the “Red Mill,” Moore brought sawmill and grist mill machinery, a planer, a cotton gin, and other remanufacturing tools for making furniture. Located on Mill Creek on the 320-acre James Douhit Survey, power was provided to the small brass turbine water-wheel by means of a dam about a half mile up the Creek.
Ownership changed hands several times (Moore to McCarty to Tall to Ford) before Howell E. Ford dismantled the sawmill in 1888 and moved the furniture factory to Canton.