Where did the name "Kannapolis" come from?

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For many years Kannapolis has always been translated from Greek to mean city of looms. Kannapolis historian, Norris Dearmon, says this is a false translation, but people continue to use it. The truth is that the name of Kannapolis came from the founding father of Cannon Manufacturing Company, formerly located in Kannapolis, J.W. Cannon. Proof that Kannapolis doesn’t mean city of looms can be found in an early copy of a Concord newspaper in 1906 based on an early reference to Kannapolis as Cannon’s City. The name Cannapolis, started by either millworkers or newspapers, stuck after Cannon sent a letter to the Cabarrus County Commission, but no one knows how the C later became a K. It has been speculated that it could have simply been to reduce confusion and to easily differentiate Kannapolis from Cannon’s other mill town in Concord (Ford, 2009). J.W. Cannon provided Kannapolis with everything it needed to thrive. Cannon provided so much for his employees that Kannapolis was recognized as a town that other cities should be modeled after. Cannon Manufacturing Company was unique in the fact that it was capable of producing more towels than any other mill group (Mock).

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​The Legacy of Charles Cannon

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Charles Cannon, one of North Carolina’s most noted industrialists, was born in 1892 in Concord, NC. Charles Cannon was the youngest of J.W. Cannon’s 10 children. In 1911, J.W. called in his youngest son, Charles A. Cannon, to take over as vice president of the Cannon Manufacturing Company.

In 1921, just 10 years after Charles Cannon was hired as vice president, his father died. At the time when he died, J.W. Cannon owned 12 mills, had 15,000 employees, had a gross annual income of $40,000,000, and was capable of producing over 300,000 towels on a daily basis (Mock).
Several years later in 1928, Charles Cannon consolidated the mills that he now owned into a single entity known as the Cannon Mills Company. Also during this year, history was made when the newly consolidated company began to launch a large-scale advertising campaign - the world’s first. During the campaign, the company introduced its first color textile products (“Biography of charles,”). Later in 1962, Cannon retired as CEO of the Cannon Mills Company, but still continued working at the mill as Chairman of the Board. Cannon was such an influential man in both communities that in 1967, he received the title of “Man of the Year” from Kannapolis and Concord. Kannapolis Citizens also honored Cannon with an “Appreciation Day” (“Biography of charles,”).

70 years after building up one of the most prominent mill companies in the United States, Charles Cannon died of a heart attack in his office at the mill in 1971. During the time that Cannon was CEO of Cannon Mills, the company did not acquire any long-term debt. The town of Kannapolis also reflected the way he ran the company which was paternalistic style. By the year of Charles Cannon’s death, Cannon Mills Company included 17 plants and employed 24,000 people. It was the largest employer in North and South Carolina. Of the 36,000 people who lived in Kannapolis, 10% of these lived in mill owned houses. Charles Cannon left behind $60 million in cash and marketable securities. Also at this time, 90% of consumers in the United States used Cannon products. He also picked his successor before his death to be Don Holt (Collins).

The Beginning of a Town Called Kannapolis