Transition from Cotton and Flax Yarn or Cloth to Cotton Thread
Though Ives and Dunham were on the forefront of this new American industry, they saw little success in the manufacture of flax products. The failure of this early enterprise came down to two factors: the Crimean War had disrupted flax shipments to America from Europe, and competition in the linen industry was great, with Ireland and Scotland being able to produce the products at a much lower cost. The company transitioned away from linen in 1856, from this point on choosing to focus on the manufacture of spool cotton thread.
While working in Windham, Ives and Dunham had become acquainted with two successful businessmen from Willington, Connecticut - Elisha Johnson and Origen Hall. Their thread mill, The Willington Thread Company, employed a unique and revolutionary process of thread finishing known as the Johnson/Heck technique. Hall’s Glazed thread was the pinnacle of thread technology at the time. This product drew the attention of the struggling businessmen Ives and Dunham. Elisha Johnson soon instructed Ives and Dunham in his patented finishing process. Within two years the Willimantic Linen Company was solely producing their star product - Willimantic Linen Co. Patent Finished Cotton Thread. Johnson would join Ives and Dunham in 1855, bringing with him an unsurpassed knowledge of the cotton industry and some of the finest machinery available.
Construction of Mill One.
Enjoying phenomenal success and national acclaim after their transition to spool thread, the Willimantic Linen Company drafted plans for a new, three hundred foot long, three-story high granite mill, complete with a seventy foot tower, located at the intersection of Main and South Main Streets, abutting the Stone Arch Bridge. This structure would be known as Mill Number One. Construction began in 1857, as Irish laborers scraped away the topsoil and quarried the pristine gneiss beneath, forming it into massive blocks. The superintendent of the project was Origen Hall’s younger brother, Gardiner Hall, who would stay to oversee the mill until 1864. Mill Number One was complete and ready for production by July of 1858.
Mill Number One’s sophisticated machinery was powered by the might of the Willimantic River. A massive belt and pulley system transferred energy from the water wheel to the production line. A reservoir, constructed in Bolton in 1855, guaranteed the mills along the Willimantic River an unfailing supply of water. Over 200 windows, nearly wall to ceiling, provided illumination for the production floor during the day. Within these walls, hundreds of workers of all ages and nationalities would toil in poor conditions from sunrise to sunset, often surrounded by a haze of cotton dust and other toxic chemicals, working on deafening and hazardous machinery. Workers were consistently paid low wages with little prospects for upward momentum.
The Willimantic Linen Company went on to expand their facilities and achieve greater innovation through the late 20th century, installing electric lights by the late 1870’s, and transitioning to steam power shortly thereafter. A series of philanthropic projects such as a library, educational programs, and a community fairground made life better for the workers, but the hours would remain long, and the work dangerous and exhausting.