During the 1960s two industrial parks opened in Henderson County, the Mountain Home Industrial Park and the Cane Creek Industrial Park at the site of the former Hendersonville-Asheville Airport in Fletcher.
A non-profit group, the Henderson County Industrial Corporation with R.B. Shealy as president, began the development of the Mountain Home Industrial Park. Alton Box Board was the first industry to open at this industrial park. The Silk City Industrial Ceramics Plant extended water lines to the industrial park. Prior to 1968, Textile Paper Products was located in the industrial park.
In 1968 industries were paying their employees $23,798,661 in Henderson County. Industries accounted for 32.3 percent of personal income in the county.
By 1970, 6,164 people in Henderson County were employed in industry. Of that total, 2,242 people were employed in textile, apparel and textile products industries. By the end of the 1960s, the textile industry in Henderson County was beginning to slow down. Grey Hosiery Mill closed in 1967. Chipman-Lacrosse in East Flat Rock closed in December 1968. But there was still a knitting mill in East Flat Rock. The East Flat Rock Knitting Mill began in production in 1947 and was located in the community through 1976. In 1969 Higdon Knitting Mill was purchased by the C.W. Anderson Hosiery Corporation and appears to have soon closed. Spinning Wheel Rugs and the Ada Company were still in operation.
The textile industry was the largest industrial employer in 1970. Berkeley Mills (Kimberly Clark Corp.) in Balfour and Cranston Print Works in the Fletcher/Naples area each employed more than 500 employees.
By 1970, General Electric was the largest single employer in Henderson County. The durable goods industries employed 2,307 people in Henderson County in 1970. The electrical machinery, equipment and supplies category employed 1,087 of those persons. Other industries in this category were companies such as Moland-Drysdale brick company and companies that made concrete.
Youngstown Aluminum began operations in the county in April 1963.
DuPont had converted its plant to making X-Ray film by 1964. DuPont employed about 200 persons from Henderson County by 1970.
Prior to 1969, Wing Paper Box Company was acquired by Federal Paper Board and the plant had moved from Lenox Park in Hendersonville to Tabor Road in East Flat Rock. It was about 1961 that the Wing Paper Box Company was sold to Manchester Board and Paper Co., which merged with Federal Paper Board.
There were 1,122 persons employed in 1970 in the manufacture of paper and paper products. Many of these persons traveled to plants in Brevard and Enka. Others were employed by Federal Paper Board.
Food manufacturers such as Kalmia Dairy and other food manufacturers employed 148 people in Henderson County in 1970.
The construction industry accounted for 9.5 percent of personal income in Henderson County in 1970 with 1,456 people employed in construction industries.
About 57 people were employed in the limestone and rock quarries.