The former Elkin Valley Woolen Mill building as seen in this photo is being expended to house the Elkin Shoe Company.  The woolen mill had moved east of Elkin in a newer brick building in 1893 to take advantage of the Northwest North Carolina Railroad which came to Elkin in 1890.  It is at the location that Mr. Alexander Smith began his venture after retiring from the shoe firm of Berry, Gilliam & Co. of Lynchburg.  After the Shoe Factory moved to its second location in 1896, this building would not be used for many years and eventually demolished to make way for the E&A Railway to come through here in 1910.