The Charlotte Sunday Observer, March 11, 1917
by W.E. ChristianWhen R.R. Haynes was a small boy, his grandmother sent him on an errand that would carry him into the section now known as Cliffside. It was a wild section, a veritable wilderness. This was one of the few things that R.R. Haynes undertook to do and failed at the job. He got lost. He couldn't find his destination.
But this boyhood failure was more than made up in later years, for to this one man alone falls the credit for having established one of the most perfectly laid-out towns to be found anywhere in the country.
R.R. Haynes has written his very character on the surface of these rugged hills. He has done infinitely more—he has left the imprint of a clean and wholesome life upon the souls of hundreds of boys and girls who have come to settle in this mill village.
Everything that one sees in the Cliffside neighborhood belonged to Mr. Haynes, or to his company.
The company owns something over 700 acres of land in the tract on which the mill is situated and in addition to this Mr. Haynes personally owned six to eight hundred more acres adjoining, not to mention a railroad that runs from Cliffside to Cliffside Junction (where it connects with the S.A.L. Railway), and all the adjuncts and institutions pertaining to a modern town, banks, ice plants, school buildings, etc.
But with these worldly possessions one seldom meets a man more simple in his ideas, more gentlemanly, more kindly in his daily intercourse with the people of the village than was Mr. Haynes. The pretty little town of Cliffside has never been incorporated. The word of Mr. Haynes was law, but he did not abuse his authority. Neither did he fail to exercise it if undesirables came into the village confines.
Dogless Eden
There are many things you find in Cliffside seldom found in other towns. There are many things you don't find there, too, which about in other towns. You don't find in all of Cliffside a dog. If a man comes to the mill with a canine adjunct to the family paraphernalia, he is politely informed that if he thinks more of his dog than he does of his job to move on.
“He would walk along the streets studying and scheming by what means he could make more beautiful and more comfortable the home surroundings of his workers.”
Cliffside is a Veritable Dogless Eden.
You don't find in Cliffside questionable characters, bootleggers, profane men or drunkards. The town is too big for the blind tiger and the prostitute and if an undesirable drifts in, departure is quick and certain.
Not only is the moral tone of the village clean and sure, but also its whole aspect is inviting and attractive.
Mr. Haynes took a deep and sympathetic interest in the personal welfare of each of his employees. He went further and interested himself in the kind of home environment thrown about them. The matron of the hotel talked continuously of his good work, as did everyone else interviewed. She said that Mr. Haynes was a man never satisfied with present conditions--he was always trying to effect improvements. He would walk along the streets studying and scheming by what means he could make more beautiful and more comfortable the home surroundings of his workers.
And as a result of these years of constant effort along these lines, this man wrought marvels in town buildings. He laid out the streets with such and tastes and the pretty cottages flanking them are as neat as a pin. Streets and dividing lines between lots in this town are marked almost universally with finely cropped hedge. Flowers, too, grow in profusion for through the years Mr. Haynes offered substantial prizes for the best flower gardens and for the best-kept premises, and his workers took a lively interest in the art of home beautification. In the mill windows you find luxuriant flowers of all kinds.
Copyright © 2008 The Cliffside Historical Society
