The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Ranlo was named for John Calvin Rankin and William Thomas Love, two prominent area industrialists - "Ranlo" was a contraction of RANkin and LOve. The community grew up around their textile mills, which produced cotton goods. Rex Spinning Company was begun in 1915, Ranlo Manufacturing Company in 1916, and Priscilla Spinning Company in 1921. Nearby, the community of Smyre was developed around the A. M. Smyre Manufacturing Company, which was founded in 1917. In 1963, Ranlo and Smyre were incorporated as the Town of Ranlo, in reaction to the concern over possible annexation into Gastonia. However, the part of the Smyre mill village south of the Norfolk Southern Railway was not included, and was eventually annexed by Gastonia in June 1996.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Start Ranlo’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Ranlo’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Ranlo
See all 1 →Ranlo, decade by decade
2000
Nothing in Ranlo is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Ranlo has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Flint Mill No. 2 - Burlington Industries, Inc. Plant in Gastonia, 1.6 miles away.
Ranlo and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.