|
As the 19th
century drew to a close the structure of mill ownership began to change
and form a new shape as several mills were combined under single
ownership, and control of others slipped from the grasp of their former
Moodus owners. In 1898 a new manufacturing company, The Undine Twine
Mills, was formed by Albert E. Purple, partner in the dry goods store of
Purple & Silliman and Moodus' judge of probate. Mr. Purple had entered
the cotton manufacturing business in 1868 with the purchase of Card's
Lower Mill. In 1878 he bought the East Mill from the New York Net and
Twine Company, and in 1898 he bought the Atlantic Mill, becoming in the
process the largest mill owner in Moodus. Judge Purple was one of the
best known and most respected men in the community during his day. In
addition to the above mentioned positions, Purple was also the president
of the Moodus Savings Bank and the National Bank of New England,
chairman of the East Haddam Bridge Commission, member of the Connecticut
State Legislature, and chief benefactor of the East Haddam Public
Library.
He was also the
wealthiest man in town, leaving an estate of one million dollars upon
his death in 1924, the largest will probated in East Haddam at that
time. Although he owned three mills which were all successful, Purple
had not become a millionaire through his achievements as a twine
manufacturer. Rather, he accomplished this feat in a much easier
manner, that is, by having the foresight to purchase large shares of
stock in the Hartford Fire Insurance Company when the business was begun
in the early days of this century.'
Moodus was a
prosperous little town during the turn of the century. According to
statistics reported in the Connecticut Valley Advertiser in 1900,
there were 17,000 spindles in operation in town. The mills consumed 103
bales or 51,500 pounds of cotton per week or 2,575,000 pounds of raw
cotton per year.
The decline of
the cotton industry in Moodus began with the early 1900’s, accelerating
during the 1920’s and 1930’s. The mills had prospered during the second
half of the 19th century, eventually attracting the interest of
speculators and opportunists who hoped to make a profit by purchasing or
otherwise gaining control of some of the mills. This interest from
outside investors began to occur during a period of diminishing capital
by several mill owners. Faced with the problems of a poor cash flow, low
capital reserves, and manufacturing facilities which needed
modernization, the Moodus mill owners began to sell.
In 1901-02 the
ownership of three mills was purchased by the Hall, Lincoln Company of
Boston. In October, 1901, they bought the Granite Mill from Frank
Fowler, added machinery, and began the manufacture of cotton duck with
Sidney Barry as superintendent. In 1902 Hall, Lincoln purchased the
Williams Duck Mill from Carlos Barry (who had bought the mill from
Jehiel Williams in 1895) and continued to make cotton duck until after
World War I. Hall, Lincoln also purchased the Stone (Chace) Mill in
1902. The new owners ceased the production of cotton yarn and twine,
changed the machinery, and began making cotton duck here, also. Sid
Barry did double duty as the superintendent of the Stone Mill for
awhile.
When E. Emory
Johnson died in 1905, an out-of-towner named George Frost became
president of the Neptune Twine and Cord Mills. The story of George Frost
represents an interesting episode in the history of the Moodus mills.
Mr. Frost was an opportunist who was able to swindle his way into the
Neptune Mills, and attempted to gain control of two others. He was a
commodities dealer in cotton in New York City who advised several
Moodus mill owners to buy cotton from him at the wrong time so that he
could make money. This is illegal because a commodities dealer cannot
advise a customer when to buy at a certain price. However, the Neptune,
Brownell, and New York Net & Twine mills all bought cotton from Frost at
the price he advised and, when unable to pay their bills when the price
of cotton dropped, were at his mercy. He ruined the New York Net & Twine
Company when it was owned by the Chaffees, forcing them to shut down
operations for two years and resulting in the sale of the mills in 1919.
Frost was unable to gain any control over the Brownell Company. George
Brownell, son of the owner Charles Brownell, reportedly stood up to
Frost and threatened to have him arrested. The Brownells eventually
paid their bill and Frost left them alone. However, E. Emory Johnson was
not as successful, and Frost was able to acquire an interest in the
corporation, remaining as president until his death.
The mills were
not damaged in the great Moodus Center Fire of January 18, 1906, which
destroyed the business district of the village, although Brownell's
Upper Mill and the Red Mill stood dangerously close to the site of the
blaze. The fire destroyed about $30,000 worth of commercial property,
including the Music Hall Building (where the great showman P.T. Barnum
had once made an appearance), Purple & Silliman's store, and Spencer's
store. The fire was believed to have been started by thieves inside
Purple & Silliman's store who had lit some matches in order to see. When
the fire was discovered about three in the morning by John Tursick, it
was blazing out of control and, since there was no fire department in
town, a bucket brigade from the Moodus River was the fire's only
challenge. According to the next day's edition of the Connecticut valley
Advertiser, "As soon as the alarm of' fire was given all the church
bells and mill bells were rung, and the whole male population turned out
to fight the conflagration."' They lost.
All of the mills
in town prospered during WWI, mostly from the benefit of government
contracts. Brownell & Company, for example, made twine for camouflage
netting. Hall, Lincoln had government contracts for canvas. However,
the market demand for cotton duck declined so rapidly after the Great
War that they were forced to sell the Stone and Williams mills (they had
already sold the Granite Mill in 1903).
Although the
domestic demand for cotton duck and twine was falling, the foreign
market continued to he strong, and Brownell & Company was the only
Moodus mill to have a foreign trade. Charles Brownell had established a
good business with Brazil and Argentina during the later 1800’s, and it
was continued by his son Crary when he assumed ownership in 1910.
Brownell sold only good quality twine to South America, whereas their
competitors, Linen Thread Company, would ship irregulars. The condor was
Brownell's logo and the South Americans, unable to speak English, always
wanted the twine with the bird on the package.
Brownell had a
distributor in New York City, C.K. Turner and Son, who handled their
ordering and shipping to South America. A man named Jim Bryant was a
runner who went to the various distributors and picked up orders. He
went into business for himself around 1910 and tried to steal some of
Turner's customers. Brownell refused to leave Turner, but Judge Purple
hired him to develop a South American market for his Undine twine in an
attempt to duplicate Brownell's success. Bryant, however, was unable to
get any business for Purple, so, desperate for customers, he tried to
steal Brownell's. Realizing that the South Americans had come to
associate a bird with good quality twine, he had Purple put a bird logo
on his packages. Brownell sued and Purple immediately dropped the logo.
Bryant then had Purple drop his price two cents per pound and, when this
move failed to produce the desired result, he had him drop the price
another four cents per pound.
This time the
South Americans began buying from Purple instead of Brownell. Brownell
could not afford to be competitive at that low a price and relinquished
the market. Ironically, although Purple now had control of the South
American market, he could not earn any profit selling twine at roughly
12 cents per pound, when the normal market price was 18 cents per pound.
After losing his
South American markets, Brownell began making cork and lead lines for
gill nets which were sold directly to fishermen in Gloucester and on the
Great Lakes. This put Brownell in direct competition with Linen Thread
for Great Lakes customers.
In many ways the
decade of the 1920’s was the beginning of the end of the cotton business
in Moodus. Fire destroyed the Triton Mill in 1924 and, two years later,
Purple's Lower Mill. The Triton blaze was caused by children who had set
a pile of dry leaves afire on mill property. The fire spread out of
their control, ultimately reaching the mill. Normally the fire would
have been detected early and extinguished. However, this particular day
was a Sunday and the people who lived in the tenements adjacent to the
mill were all attending a social function. By the time the fire was
discovered, the mill was beyond saving. The fire that destroyed Purple's
Lower Mill was also the result of human carelessness. This mill was
still heated by coal stoves, and some embers had fallen undetected onto
the floor when the stove was last "shaken down." The floorboards, wooden
and soaked with 80 years accumulation of machine oil, ignited. The mill
was a total loss.
Business suffered
in Moodus during the Great Depression of the 1930’s, but not as badly as
many manufacturing communities in the state. Almost everyone continued
to work: People had their gardens and backyard livestock to help sustain
a full larder, and although wages were low and the workday continued to
be ten hours long, work was available and hardly anyone had to go on
relief.
One reason why
the twine industry was not hurt too badly during the Depression was that
the fishing industry remained fairly steady during these troubled years.
Fish was less expensive to buy than beef, and many people began to add
more fish to their diet. Since the Moodus mills sold twine to the net
manufacturers, there remained a stable market for Moodus twine. The
relatively healthy condition of the fishing industry attracted
competition for Moodus from several twine mills in the Southern states.
Bibb Manufacturing Company in Macon, Georgia, as well as Linen Thread
in the Carolinas were the chief rivals. The North had the disadvantage
of paying higher wages, but it was closer to the fishing fleets than the
South. The fact that the Southern mills were closer to the source of raw
cotton was negated by the fact that the price of cotton was determined
by the commodities market in New York City and the price of raw cotton
in Savannah would not buy any lower than the price paid in the North.
Brownell &
Company was not hurt as badly by the financial collapse of the country
as it was by the loss of its South American export trade. 1928 to 1932
were lean years for the company. Crary Brownell began to explore the
market for specialty items that the larger mills did not want to touch.
He made "a darn good zipper cord," which he sold to the Russell
Manufacturing Company in Middletown, Connecticut, for a nice profit. He
made trawl lines for which he had to develop an unbalanced twist to
allow for shrinkage while in the water. He made cork and lead lines for
gill nets. Mr. Brownell was an avid archer, and that interest led him
into the manufacturing of linen bow strings. He bought Irish linen from
J.E. Barber of Barber's Flax and twisted it into thread.
1932 was the
worst year of the Depression. Unemployment reached a record 13 million
of America's workforce, and for those who still had a job, wages had
declined 60 percent since 1929. Business losses were reported at six
billion dollars, and banks were closing every day in every state as more
people lost their confidence in the ability of the Hoover
Administration to solve the financial crisis. In Washington, D.C., the
Bonus Marchers, 17,000 unemployed World War I veterans and their
families who had traveled to the nation's capitol to support their
demand that the government pay their bonus certificates now rather than
in 1943, were attacked by U.S. Army Troops led by Chief of Staff Douglas
MacArthur and driven out of the city by bullets, bayonets, and tear gas.
President Hoover, fearful of the mood of the nation, had turned the
White House into a fortress and had not been seen in weeks.
In Moodus the
Depression forced the end of cotton manufacturing at the old Williams
Mill of Falls Road. The owners of the mill, the Ludlow Manufacturing
Company, in a move to consolidate their operations, moved the machinery
to their main plant in Ludlow, Massachusetts, and sold the mill to a
Robert Loblick and his associates who attempted to convert the building
to a distillery. Their efforts failed and the East Haddam Distillery
went out of business before they had even begun. The building was later
transformed into a chicken coop, one of many coops in Moodus during the
years when Moodus was a leading egg producer in the area. The building
has stood vacant for 20 years now, and the town is considering its
demolition.
The New York Net
and Twine Company fell victim to hard times, and in February, 1933, the
National Bank of New England, located in East Haddam, foreclosed on the
company's $20,000 mortgage. The company, owned by Allen K. Roberts, was
sold later that year to Lees Manufacturing Company of Westport,
Connecticut. At the time of this sale, the Red Mill was in a bad state
of disrepair and had not been used for sometime. The Falls Mill is what
attracted the Lees Company to Moodus. All the local employees remained,
but with ownership transferred to an out-of-town company the attitude of
the workers changed also. They still loved the mill, but they did not
know the people they worked for and, in a closely-knit village like
Moodus, out-of-towners were suspect.
The Depression
effected a basic reorganization of American industry. Small, independent
mills and factories built during the previous century along rivers in
rural villages like Moodus were no longer able to fight the competition
of larger companies who could afford to convert to the latest technology
and pay union wages. The Moodus mills tried to hang on to their way of
life, but they were facing constant pressure to change. One of the
biggest changes in business life during the 1930’s was the industrial
labor union movement. Moodus workers did not seek to unionize because
they believed they had no need to ask any outsiders to arbitrate their
relationship with their neighbors, the mill owners. Workers in Moodus
were content with their working conditions and did not see any cause for
complaint. They felt that the mills had been good to them, providing a
steady income in an atmosphere of neighborhood friendliness and
co-operation. However, this anti-union attitude did not win friends
within the United Textile Workers union when they called for a general
strike in the fall of 1934.
The textile
industry had been severely depressed prior to 1933. The industry
improved somewhat in 1933 along with the rest of the economy following
the introduction of the National Recovery Act codes. Early in 1934,
however, the industry went into another slump. When the N.R.A. granted
the textile companies a 25-percent curtailment of machine hours, the
workers demanded that the union call a strike. Wages were so low already
that a 25-percent cutback would lead to many layoffs. The union demanded
higher wages, union recognition, and a discontinuation of speedups in
the mills. Textile workers in Middletown, New Haven, Willimantic,
Stafford Springs, Dayville, Manchester, Putnam, Sterling, Norwich,
Jewitt City, Plainfield, Moosup, Glasco, Wauregan, and Rockville,
Connecticut all went out on strike from September 3-24, 1934.
Newspapers
estimated that across the country more than 300,000 textile workers were
out. Where the mills brought in scabs, or in mills that had not gone on
strike, the union sent carloads of strikers, called "Flying Squadrons"
to fight workers. The State of Connecticut mobilized the National Guard
to intercede, and the Guard even used airplanes to try to spot the
movements of the strikers' squadrons so that they could be there when
the strikers arrived.
The Moodus
workers, being nonunion, continued to work. One day during the strike a
black Cadillac carrying strikers, one of the Flying Squadrons, drove
into Moodus and attempted to talk to the workers. They were not allowed
to enter Brownell's mills so they drove up Falls Road toward the
Atlantic Mill. Crary Brownell called ahead to warn the Atlantic Mill
that the Squadron was approaching, and when the Cadillac pulled into the
mill they were met by the foreman and several others who were standing
on the loading dock with lap sticks in their hands. The Squadron was
informed in no uncertain terms that they were not welcomed in Moodus and
they should drive away unless they wanted a fight. Realizing that help
from the workers would not be forthcoming, they left town, and the boys
on the loading dock put down their sticks and went back to work. The
strike was called off after three weeks when the union agreed to accept
a number of recommendations that had been made by President Roosevelt's
Textile Board of Inquiry.
As the decade of
the 1930’s was approaching a close, fire once again claimed the life of
a Moodus mill. This time the Atlantic Mill fell victim to the flames. At
the end of each workday electric blowers were used to clean the machines
and floor of waste cotton. During this operation the air inside the mill
was full of floating fibers of cotton. The fire was caused by exposed
wires on an extension cord igniting some cotton on the floor. According
to an eyewitness, Joe Wolak, a flash fire erupted because of the
quantity of cotton dust in the air. Workers gave the alarm and evacuated
the building, some jumping from second floor windows. Miraculously, no
one was killed. The local fire department, volunteers, and boys from the
nearby Civilian Conservation Corps camp all tried to bring the fire
under control, but their efforts were unsuccessful. The mill was a total
loss.
During the 1930’s
the DuPont Corporation had perfected a new synthetic called nylon which
they hoped to market as an alternative product to cotton. DuPont had
tried to interest several cotton seine twine mills into converting to
the manufacture of nylon seine, but every mill had refused. They all
believed that nylon seine, because of its superior strength to cotton
and the fact that it will not rot in water, would initiate the demise of
cotton seine manufacturing. Apparently, no one wanted to assume the
responsibility of being the first to convert.
One mill,
however, did refer DuPont representatives to the Brownell Company in
Moodus where they were favorably received by Crary Brownell and his son
Nathan. The Brownells realized that nylon was to become the fiber of the
future; to accept or reject its inevitability could mean the difference
between financial success or failure. The Brownells agreed to become the
first twine mill to convert from the manufacture of cotton to nylon
seine, and to introduce nylon twine to the commercial fishing market. In
return, DuPont made Brownell the exclusive manufacturer of nylon seine
twine for a period of five years. This would allow Brownell the
opportunity to develop the product and to conduct market research. The
success of the Brownell mill in manufacturing and selling nylon seine
twine ensured the economic survival of the company. The Brownell
Company has survived for 140 years as a result of hard work,
manufacturing and product innovation, market diversification, and good
luck. Today, the two Brownell mills are the only ones left on the river.
In 1943, the
Falls Mill was destroyed by fire when bearings in the turbine overheated
and caught fire, igniting the big leather belt which pulled the flames
into the mill. That same year the East Mill, long since abandoned, was
dismantled for salvage. The Stone (Chace) Mill experienced several fires
during the 1950’s and 1960’s, and was finally demolished. In 1972 the
Neptune Mill, which had been purchased in 1965 by Raymond Schmidt and
was the focal point of his restored Victorian mill village of
Johnsonville, was hit by lightning and burned to the ground.
The Brownell
Company remained healthy due to the tremendous commercial success of
nylon. The company built a modern, one-story manufacturing plant on
property located immediately behind the original mill, and presently
operates on 80,000 square feet of floor space. In 1977, Crary Brownell
sold the family business to Bridgeport-Gundry, Ltd., an English holding
company which was looking to purchase a successful American business.
Today, the Brownell Company is a leading manufacturer of synthetic line,
twine, cordage and netting for commercial fishing, industrial, hardware,
building construction, and sporting goods applications. The company also
produces cargo net systems for aircraft and helicopters, archery
bowstring materials and, for its Edwards Sports Products Division, a
complete line of tennis nets and net accessories.
Conclusion
There were three
distinct stages in the history of seine twine manufacturing, each
characterized by the use of a different fiber in the production
process. Twine was first made from linen, a derivative of the flax
plant. The transition to the second stage of development was initiated
by Ebenezer Nichols of Moodus who, in the early 1820’s, conceived the
idea of substituting cotton for linen in the manufacturing of seine
twine. With his invention of the Whirl-A-Gig twister, the production of
cotton seine twine began in Moodus. The fishermen soon came to realize
that cotton twine was a more economic product than linen, and Moodus'
domination of the cotton seine industry was ensured for many years. The
third stage in the history of twine production was instituted by the
Brownell Company when they became the first seine twine mill in the
nation to convert to the manufacture of nylon twine. Today, practically
all seine twine used for commercial fishing is made from synthetic
fiber. Moodus, Connecticut, can justifiably be nicknamed the "Twine
Capitol of America" for its leading role in initiating the development
of cotton and nylon seine twine.
The cotton
industry in Moodus flourished for about 100 years, from the early days
of the industrial revolution to the end of World War 1. The first mill
along the Moodus River was constructed only 25 years after Samuel Slater
had built from memory a cotton spinning machine in Pawtucket, Rhode
Island, thereby inaugurating the textile industry in New England. The
Moodus manufacturers were able to build profitable companies because
they were not competing with the much larger cotton textile mills in the
region. They had decided to manufacture twine, yarn, and duck. The mill
owners of Moodus were therefore able to establish their own economic
niche within the larger, more competitive field of cotton textile
manufacturing.
The cotton
industry in Moodus, with the exception of the Brownell Company, never
outgrew the primitive stage of industrial capitalism. Their
manufacturing capacity was defined by the small, 19th century mills
which housed their machinery. Investment capital was limited due to
their increasingly outmoded methods of production. The economic niche
which the town had enjoyed with each other for so long was lost in the
transition to synthetics. As the industrial picture of America was
changing from small, local mills to consolidation and regionalization,
Moodus, like so many rural manufacturing towns in New England, was
unable to make the transition. If fire had not first claimed so many of
the mills, the changing industrial economy would have forced their
eventual abandonment.
The village of
Moodus has never fully recovered from the economic loss of the mills.
The town briefly acquired a new identity from the 1930-1960’s as the
resort capital of Middlesex County, boasting one dozen popular summer
resorts until changing conditions reduced their number to four during
the 1970’s. Today, the focus of attention is no longer on the village of
Moodus, but on the village of East Haddam Landing. The landmark
Goodspeed Opera House, Gelston House restaurant, and the village's many
boutiques and crafts shops attract thousands of tourists.
Brownell and
Company represents the last tangible link to Moodus' industrial past.
The 160-year-old white clapboard mill continues to stand proudly in
front of the company's new manufacturing plant, a nostalgic reminder of
the days when Cotton was King along the Moodus River. |
