From Mill Owner to Magnate
In July of 1848, Gardiner Hall moved to Willington where he constructed a cotton wadding and batting mill with Willington resident Andrew Fuller, Willimantic druggist Dr. Jason Safford, and brother Origin Hall. In 1850, the wadding and batting mill was refitted to produce cotton thread with Origin Hall and new partners Timothy Merrick, Lewis Brigham, and Elisha Johnson. This reimagined venture was renamed Hall Merrick & Brigham, also known as the Old Willington Thread Company. This thread company was extremely successful, utilizing a revolutionary finishing process developed by Elisha Johnson and John Heck, called glazing. Johnson and Heck had developed a machine consisting of multiple small rotating brushes that polished the thread as it passed through, giving the fibers extra strength and a smooth finish.
This success garnered both praise and envy in the textile community. Two Willimantic businessmen, Austin Dunham and Lawson Ives, took notice of the Willington firm. The two had taken a gamble by opening a linen mill at Willimantic falls in 1854, named the Willimantic Linen Company. Linen was a new industry in America, and international competition was fierce. As their business struggled, Ives and Dunham approached Origin Hall and Elisha Johnson, who agreed to instruct them in the manufacture of their popular glazed three cord spool thread. In 1857, Gardiner and company sold the mill and its contents to the Willimantic Linen Company, which abandoned the manufacture of linen goods and transferred all cotton operations from Willington to Willimantic. Gardiner was contracted to superintend the construction of the Willimantic Linen Company’s new spool cotton thread mill, Mill Number One. According to The American Historical Society, his knowledge of the industry was unparalleled, and his expertise was instrumental in the operation and supervision of this advanced machinery.
In 1860, Gardiner Hall Sr.’s son, Gardiner Hall Jr., built a spool cotton thread mill in South Willington, Connecticut, on a tributary of the Willimantic River. This venture, named Hall & Manning, failed the next year when his partner, Manning, left to fight for the Union in the American Civil War. In 1862, Gardiner Jr. once again formed a thread mill on the same site. Initially the sole proprietor, he was joined by his brothers-in-law John R. Champlin and Marcus M. Johnson on April 12th, 1864. The company achieved instant success. That same year, Gardiner Sr. left the Willimantic Linen Company to join his son’s growing enterprise. In January of 1868, Gardiner Sr. purchased his son-in-law Marcus Johnson’s 1/5 share of the Gardiner Hall Jr. Company for a substantial $80,000.
