Today Elon College is known as a college town and many might assume that it has always been such since the name of the town and the college are the same. The town had its origin before the college came, and while many communities in Alamance County trace their beginnings to the textile industry, or the coming of the railroad, Elon College can look to both foundations in its origins. Elon community had its beginnings as a railroad depot which was built to serve textile mills. The North Carolina Railroad built its tracks from Goldsboro to Charlotte in the 1850s, and this line passed through Mebane, Haw River, just north of Graham, and on to the west by Gibsonville. When the rail line was built the tracks ran from Company Shops to Gibsonville through what is now Elon College, merely a heavily wooded area interspersed with farm lands. At the site of present Elon College, two roads intersected. One ran from Company Shops to Gibsonville, and the other ran from Ossipee to the south. This latter road ran past a stage coach inn near the present intersection of South Williamson Avenue and #U.S. 70, or South Church Street. The stage coach stop was known as Boon's Crossing. For many years after the rail line opened, Elon College area remained woods and farmlands. It was not until 1888 that something came to spur growth in the area. It was in that year that a depot was built there, and it was called Mill Point. The depot was to serve several textile mills in the area, mainly those in Altamahaw and Ossipee. This depot gave the mills a point from which they could ship products to market, and receive raw materials from suppliers. Capt. James N. WILLIAMSON and his sons operated the Ossipee mills and he built a house at Mill Point near the depot. Capt. WILLIAMSON also had a house in Graham where he lived most of his time there. The Mill Point home was just for brief stays when he had business at his mill. The WILLIAMSON house still stands at 111 E. Trollinger Avenue, and in 1999 it is owned by Rev. and Mrs John G. TRUITT Jr. W.L. SMITH was the first freight agent at Mill Point and he built a house which stands on 113 W. Trollinger Avenue. The house remains in the same family, owned by T.L. SMITH, a former Elon College mayor. But Mill Point was not to remain Mill Point long. To be continued with #2