This marker is located along New Hope Road a short distance north of the Interstate and in front of the Lutheran Chapel Cemetery. There is parking in the cemetery parking lot to stop and read the marker.
It has the same text on both sides, reading "Textile mill owner, bank executive, philanthropist, and benefactor of present Lenoir-Rhyne University in 1923. Grave is nearby."
Online, there is more information. "Daniel Efird Rhyne, business leader and benefactor of Lenoir-Rhyne College, was born on February 8, 1852, to Moses H. and Margaret Hoffman Rhyne. He grew up on a farm near Woodlawn in what was then Lincoln County, now Gaston. He eventually had a hand in renaming his hometown Mount Holly, after the textile town of the same name in New Jersey. Rhyne attended Lincoln County's common schools and, from 1871 to 1872, he pursued studies at North Carolina College, a Lutheran institution in Mount Pleasant.
"Rhyne entered the cotton mill industry at age twenty-two when he and his brother Abel built the Mount Holly Cotton Mill at the confluence of Dutchman's Creek and the Catawba River. In 1887 he and his brother-in-law J. A. Abernethy erected the Laboratory Cotton Mill just south of Lincolnton, and then later the Daniel and Wampum Mills in Lincolnton. Their ventures are credited with bringing industry, business, and a population explosion to Lincoln County. Aside from cotton mills, Rhyne also owned and operated Lincoln Lithia Inn, a summer resort with celebrated healthful spring water, and he was an investor in the Piedmont Wagon Company in Hickory. His property holdings in western counties were extensive and he was an officer and substantial stockholder in several mills and banks.
"Rhyne enjoyed sharing his wealth with Lutheran churches in areas near to his home and work. He is credited with significant gifts to at least twelve churches in Lincoln, Gaston, Iredell, Mecklenburg, and other nearby counties. Daniel Rhyne made generous contributions to the Lutheran-run Lenoir College in Hickory. In 1923, the school changed its name to Lenoir-Rhyne College in honor of their benefactor. Rhyne died on February 25, 1933 and was buried in the cemetery at Lutheran Chapel Church in Gastonia."
[Review 186 of 2025 - 4093 in North Carolina - 23750 overall] read more