Mandeville Mills was formed in 1902 when L. C. Mandeville, Joe Aycock and H. O. Lovvorn combined Carrollton Oil Mill and Mandeville Cotton Mills into one company. All three men were leaders in the community and the mill provided employment and services for many citizens of Carrollton. A company magazine, Mandeville Yarns, was produced beginning in 1947. By 1953, however, Mandeville Mills could not recover from lost profits and had not advanced beyond manufacturing yarn. The company was sold to the Comer Machinery Company of Atlanta, and within two years the mills were producing goods again. Today the original mill has been converted into Mandeville Mill Loft Apartments, located on Lovvorn Road in Carrollton, Georgia.

Leroy Clifton Mandeville, son of Appleton and Mary Ann Stewart Mandeville, was born on September 25, 1851. His education consisted of tutoring from his mother and Professor A. C. Reese. On December 16, 1876, he married Carrie Richardson, daughter of Major John R. Richardson, and they had five children: Eugenia, Nell, Appleton, Leroy Clifton, and Camilla. He was a prominent member of the community as president of the People’s Bank for twenty-eight years, treasurer of the Fourth District A & M School (which he helped bring to Carrollton), mayor of Carrollton, vice-president of Gainesboro Tel & Tel (an early telephone company). While on his way home from Nova Scotia, Mandeville died from a stroke on September 9, 1926 in Asheville, North Carolina.

Joseph A. Aycock was raised by his uncle, Joseph Amis, in Coweta County, Georgia. He attended the University of Georgia and married Mary Elizabeth Thomas in 1882. In 1891, they moved to Carrollton, and he built his first cotton gin at the foot of Maple Street hill. Aycock was a “genius of construction” and built several other buildings around town. He died on February 2, 1910.

Henry Oliver Lovvorn was born in Newell, Alabama on June 15, 1876 to William Daniel and Sarah Delilah Burden Lovvorn. His family moved to Bowdon, Georgia two years later. He attended Bowdon College and the Commercial College of Kentucky, and he married Effie Hay on July 18, 1897. Lovvorn was a member of the Board of Education and a leader in the Republican Party at a time when Democrats held control of the South. He died on November 25, 1938.

Mandeville, Aycock, and Lovvorn signed a contract for machinery for the first cotton oil mill in Carrollton. Years later, they formed a joint-stock company by combining Mandeville Cotton Mills and Carrollton Oil Mills in 1902. Mandeville was elected president, Aycock was vice-president and manager, and Lovvorn was the secretary and treasurer; these offices did not change until Aycock’s death in 1910. A second mill opened in 1908, and gins were built across western Georgia (Whitesburg, Clem, Mandeville, Hulett, Bremen, Tallapoosa, Bowdon, and Buckton). The oil mill was sold in 1945 and various gins were sold to Joe Aycock, Jr. when the economy was in decline. Demand decreased dramatically after World War II and the company failed to modernize their machinery. Continuing losses over the years necessitated the sale of Mandeville Mills to Comer Machinery Company of Atlanta in December 1953, and two other businesses soon occupied the mills. Printed Fabrics, Inc. of Scranton, Pennsylvania bought the larger mill and produced printed fabrics. Testworth Laboratories bought the smaller, original mill and created rubber and resin backings for carpets and upholstery.