Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates

Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company, ca.1898
Berkshire Mill No. 1, Adams, now converted to apartments.

Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates (/ˈbɜːrkʃər/) was an American textile company. In 1955, the company merged with Hathaway Manufacturing Company to form Berkshire Hathaway.

History

The company was founded in 1889 as Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company by William and Charles Plunkett, the sons of William C. Plunkett, who owned several cotton mills.[1]

The first mill built by the company was Berkshire Mill No. 1 in Adams, Massachusetts, which opened in June 1899. President William McKinley laid a cornerstone for the mill but was forced to cut his visit short by his wife's illness.[2]

In 1929, Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company merged with the Valley Falls Company of Rhode Island, founded by Oliver Chace, to form Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates, which was then led by Malcolm Greene Chace.[3]

In 1930, the company acquired King Philip Mills in Fall River, Massachusetts.[4]

In 1931, the company acquired Parker Mills.[5]

Unlike many New England textile companies that failed during the 1920s and 1930s, Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates survived the Great Depression intact.

At its peak in 1948, Berkshire earned $29.5 million and employed 11,000 workers at 11 mills, under the leadership of Malcolm Greene Chace Jr.[6]

In February 1955, Malcolm Jr. organized the merger of Berkshire with Hathaway Manufacturing Company, founded in New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1888 by Horatio Hathaway, to form Berkshire Hathaway.[7] At the same time, failed negotiations with labor unions led to a 13-week strike.[8]

Fate of the mills post-merger

In 1958, Mill #4 was closed, resulting in the loss of 1,000 jobs.[9]

By the early 1960s, the mills had been sold separately. Declining demand for industrial spaces led to the demolition of Mills #2 and 3[10]

Berkshire Mill No. 1 was converted into 65 apartments in 1987 and is currently managed by Harvest Properties LLC.

In 2014, plans to convert Berkshire Mill No. 4 into 150 affordable apartments was proposed.[11] The development has not started, awaiting permit applications and funding and the building remains vacant (as of 2023). [12]

References

  1. ^ Strahan, Derek (January 20, 2022). "Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company, Adams, Mass". Lost New England.
  2. ^ "Mrs. McKinley ill". Akron Daily Democrat. June 27, 1899 – via Library of Congress.
  3. ^ "Chace, Malcom G." The New York Times. June 30, 2011.
  4. ^ Dion, Marc Munroe (March 24, 2018). "A historic remembrance of a mill about to fall". The Herald News.
  5. ^ "Women at Work: An Oral History of Working-Class Women in Fall River, Massachusetts 1920–1970". Fall River Historical Society.
  6. ^ Murphy Jr., Bill (July 6, 2015). "10 Surprising Facts About Warren Buffett's Company". Inc.
  7. ^ "Textile Concerns Planning Merger; Berkshire Associates and Hathaway Manufacturing Agree on Terms – Vote Set". The New York Times. February 16, 1955.
  8. ^ "Wage Chronology: Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: Supplement No. 3 – 1953–64". Monthly Labor Review. April 1964. JSTOR 41835613.
  9. ^ "Berkshire-Hathaway Announces Mill Closing". www.massmoments.org. May 7, 1958.
  10. ^ "Massachusetts SP Berkshire Mill No. 1". National Archives and Records Administration.
  11. ^ Guerino, Jack (September 16, 2014). "Developer Details Plans for Former Adams Mill". www.iberkshires.com.
  12. ^ Spinella, Sten (February 24, 2023). "Waverly Mill development in Adams could bring much-needed affordable housing to the town. But the project faces many hurdles". The Berkshire Eagle.

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