Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates was founded in 1889 as Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company in Adams, Massachusetts. By 1917 the company was capitalized at $2,500,000 and contained over 260,000 ring and mule spindles and 6,500 looms for the production of cotton textiles , making it one of the largest cotton textile companies in the world. In 1929, Berkshire merged with the Valley Falls Company of Rhode Island, and became known as Berkshire F...
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Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates was founded in 1889 as Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company in Adams, Massachusetts. By 1917 the company was capitalized at $2,500,000 and contained over 260,000 ring and mule spindles and 6,500 looms for the production of cotton textiles , making it one of the largest cotton textile companies in the world. In 1929, Berkshire merged with the Valley Falls Company of Rhode Island, and became known as Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates. In 1930 the company acquired the King Philip Mills in Fall River, Massachusetts. In 1931 the company acquired the Parker Mills of Fall River and Warren, Rhode Island.
Unlike many New England textile companies that failed during the 1920s and 1930's, Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates would survive 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 Chace, Jr.
In 1955, Chace Jr. put together the merger of Berkshire with...
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