#4 History of Elon College Elon College's major industry today is education. There has been other businesses over the years. A blacksmith shop along with livery stables. One of the duties of the livery operators was to meet the passenger trains as they stopped in Elon College. The blacksmith shops, and the livery stables were replaced by the service station when the automobile replaced the horse. The town also had grist mills, and at one time a saw mill operated here. There was a brickyard on the western side of the town at one time. Perhaps the closest the town ever came to being directly a part of the textile industry was in the early 1900s. W.T. NOAH operated a hosiery mill on North Williamson Avenue for a few years. Today there are a number of major industries in the area. Carolina Biological Supply Company is just to the east, and Roche Biomedical Laboratories is a part of the area economy. Sonoco Products is to the west of the town and R.H. Barringer Distributing Co has a major location to the west. The college campus has now spread far beyond the original walled campus, there is a new and modern campus with dormitories, a beautiful fine arts center, baseball, soccer fields, and other facilities. A program of expansion was begun in 1992 to create a new athletic center and other major facilities on the north campus. More than 3,200 students are enrolled. In 1923 a disaster hit the college when fire destroyed the Main Building, the administration, and classroom building. However before the fires cooled, efforts were under way in the community to rebuild the facility and make Elon College even bigger and better than before. Indeed, when that happened the community of Alamance County became more a part of the college than ever before. The Elon College library is the third largest in North Carolina among private institutions. Elon College has long served students in Alamance County, many of whom commute daily to class. The school has gained national recognition for reasons other than academic. To be continued...#5