Wamsutta Company
Encyclopedia
New Bedford, Massachusetts
New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located south of Boston, southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about east of Fall River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 95,072, making it the sixth-largest city in Massachusetts...
, a port known for its whaling
Whaling
Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC. Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales...
ships. The company was named for Wamsutta
Wamsutta
Wamsutta , also known as Alexander Pokanoket, as he was called by New England colonists, was the eldest son of Massasoit and a sachem of the Wampanoag native American tribe. His sale of Wampanoag lands to colonists other than those of the Plymouth Colony brought the Wampanoag considerable power,...
, the son of an Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
chief who negotiated an early alliance with the English settlers of the Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony
Plymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town...
in the 17th century.
History
Wamsutta Company's textileTextile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
mill was founded by Thomas Bennett, Jr. on the banks of the Acushnet River
Acushnet River
The Acushnet River is the largest river, long, flowing into Buzzards Bay in southeastern Massachusetts, in the United States. The name "Acushnet" comes from the Wampanoag or Algonquian word, "Cushnea", meaning "as far as the waters", a word that was used by the original owners of the land in...
in 1846 and opened in 1848. It was the first of many textile mills that gradually came to supplant whaling as the principal employer in New Bedford. Other mills in the area soon sprang up. By the 1870s, cotton textile manufacture was more important to the local economy than whaling.
A second mill, 200 feet (61 m) long, was built in 1855. The third mill, a duplicate of the second, was built in 1860. By 1883, the
Wamsutta Co. had six mills and produced 26 million yards of cotton cloth annually.
By 1892, with a total of seven mills, Wamsutta was the largest cotton weaving plant in the world. In 1897 Wamsutta was operating 4450 looms and employing 2100 workers.
Wamsutta Mill was named after a Massasoit chief, who C. 1600s, signed a deed to transfer the Acushnet area to settlers. The meaning of the name translates to Loving Heart. The mill was incorporated by Massachusetts’ legislature in 1846. The Wamsutta Mill used natural fibers of cotton and converted them into cloth by a process that includes spinning, stretching, and weaving for over a century. It was the first mill of its kind in the city of New Bedford.
By mid 1847 Thomas Bennett, Jr. raised monies $160,000 for the mill. This was approximately half of what the business was estimated to need but the plan was put into motion at any rate. The funding that he raised had a stipulation from one of the investors; a one Joseph Grinnell of First National Bank stipulated that the mill be located in New Bedford, MA, as opposed to the originally intended idea of being located in the state of Georgia. The first meeting of the stockholders was held in 1847 and it was then that Joseph Grinnell was elected as the chairman and Thomas Bennett, Jr. the secretary. Mr. Bennett also served as the Superintendent of the Wamsutta Mill from its incorporation date of 1846 until 1874.
The mill had to create housing for the workers and, though it was incorporated in the year 1846, it could not be outfitted with spindles until the fall of 1848. It started off with 10,000 spindles even with there being room for 15,000. Soon, business began to boom. Wamsutta Mill number two was built in 1855. Along with these progresses came a change over from whale oil to gas for illumination. A third was built in 1860–1861 outfitted in 1862 and opened in 1865; the delay was due to the Civil War and labor and product shortages. By 1868 the capitalization of the company jumped to $2,000,000 and a fourth bigger mill was built.
Thomas Bennett, Jr. retired in the year 1874. However, that did not stop the mill from thriving. Come 1875 capital reached $2,500,000, they were shipping to Australia, and along came mill number 5. It was shortly after this time that the finer fabric percale
Percale
Percale or Percalcos is a closely woven plain-weave fabric often used for bed covers.The term describes the weave of the fabric, not its content, so percale could be a blend of 50% cotton and 50% polyester, 100% cotton, or a blend of other fabrics in any ratio...
was made at Wamsutta. New Bedford is known to be the first city in the America to make fine cotton. In 1880, the Wamsutta Mill took out the old Whitin
Whitin Machine Works
The Whitin Machine Works was founded by Paul Whitin and his sons in 1831 on the banks of the Mumford River in South Northbridge, Massachusetts. The village of South Northbridge became known as Whitinsville in 1835, in honor of its founder....
spindles and added 20,000 Rabeth spindles, which were made in Pawtucket by the Fales and Jenks Machine Company. And in 1882 the building of mill number 6 was begun.
Joseph Grinnell remained on until 1885 when he died at the age of 96; and Andrew G. Pierce, William Wallace Crapo, Oliver Prescott, and Charles F. Broughton successively took his place.
By 1917 plans were in the works for this massive mill to receive a modernization overhaul. Machinery was upgraded and replaced and the steam power was replaced with electric. A new focus was directed toward fine sheets and pillowcases complete with advertising campaign geared towards the public.
Prior to the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, in the 1920s, the city of New Bedford had their own depression. During this time, four of the city's factories closed down. The following decade almost two dozen closed. Wamsutta, however, increased its sales in 1925 while others were liquidating and closing. By 1935, their sheets were henceforth known as Supercale instead of percale. Additionally, they manufactured a new product called Lustercale, a blend of 60% cotton and 40% high strength Avril rayon. This blend feels like cotton but is somewhat softer. At some point Wamsutta changed the fiber content of Lustercale to 100% cotton. They also created the perfect weave for sails on sailing ships. Furthermore, because of the wars, they created tailored their products for hot air balloons, gas mask fabric, military uniforms, and supplies. Many other fabric types were created for many other purposes and to this day Wamsutta remains a household name for fabrics.
Recent
In modern times, Wamsutta is a brand name of Springs Global US, Inc.Springs Global
Springs Global is a Brazil-based multinational corporation engaged in the manufacturing, marketing, and sale of packaged textile and non-textile home furnishings. It makes textile goods, such as sheets, pillows, bedspreads, towels and bath rugs, under the Springmaid and Wamsutta brands...
, a textile conglomerate headquartered in Fort Mill, South Carolina
Fort Mill, South Carolina
Fort Mill is a fast-growing suburban town in both York and Lancaster counties in the U.S. state of South Carolina, and a suburb of the city of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Rock Hill...
.
In 2004, the historic Wamustta Mills complex in Massachusetts was slated for redevelopment according to officials of New Bedford. The renovation will also include a 8000 square feet (743.2 m²) museum featuring items such as old mill equipment and garments created at the mills.
A ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the initiation of the renovation of the mill was held on November 8, 2006.