Wamsutta Company
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wamsutta Company, also known as Wamsutta Mills, was located in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a port known for its whaling ships. The company was named for Wamsutta, the son of an Native American chief who negotiated an early alliance with the English settlers of the Plymouth Colony in the 17th century.
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[edit] History
Wamsutta Company's textile mill was founded by Thomas Bennett, Jr. on the banks of the Acushnet River 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.[1]
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.
[edit] Recent
In modern times, Wamsutta is a brand name of Springs Global US, Inc., a textile conglomerate headquartered in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
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 8,000-square-foot (740 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.
