The Willimantic Cotton Mills Company was founded in 1854 to process flax into goods and eventually changed over to all cotton. The original plant was situated on the Willimantic River in Connecticut. The company was started with $75,000 and within 18 years had amassed a fortune of $1,000,000 and used this fortune for improvements to their factory as well as donations to charities in Hartford.
For more than 150 years the textile industry in New England and along the Willimantic River had employed thousands of workers in their mills and helped build a thriving New England economy. But in the early 1960's, one by one, these textile mills began to shut their doors and shift their operations to Mexico. And in 1985 life in New England changed forever - the last textile mill closed.
We have seen this scenario play out across the United Stated in the last 25 years in almost all of the industries of the great Industrial Age here in America. In the last 10 years alone 50,000 factories have closed their doors in the United States and took millions upon millions of American jobs with them. And those jobs are never coming back.
Our generation has witnessed the decline of industry and with it the decline of America's middle class. The rise and fall of New England's textile industry was a predictor of what was to befall the entire nation. When the mills and the factories thrived so did the local economies, as did science and technology. But we don't make anything any more.
How can a country the size of the United States sustain itself when the middle class - the heart and soul and backbone of our country - has been essentially decimated?
Our generation has witnessed the decline of industry and with it the decline of America's middle class. The rise and fall of New England's textile industry was a predictor of what was to befall the entire nation. When the mills and the factories thrived so did the local economies, as did science and technology. But we don't make anything any more.
How can a country the size of the United States sustain itself when the middle class - the heart and soul and backbone of our country - has been essentially decimated?
The United States used to have the highest standard of living in the world thanks in great part to the factories and mills that employed millions, where we actually made stuff. But for the last 25 years or so we have fallen way down the list in education and infant mortality for example. And to think that thread and textiles predicted it all. So sad and something I never thought I would witness in my lifetime.
The Willimantic Cotton Mills Company became quite famous for ads promoting their thread.
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Here I have removed the writing on the chalkboard
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Here is another lovely trade card
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Thanks to the Millmuseum.org
for the information used to create this post.
Enjoy!
