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Keywords: textile manufacturing

Historical Items

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Item 104659

Rene W. Boisvert, founder of Biddeford Textile, Biddeford, ca. 1997

Contributed by: Biddeford Mills Museum Date: 1997 Location: Biddeford Media: Digital photograph

Item 6994

Textile mill workers, ca. 1900

Contributed by: Lewiston Public Library Date: circa 1900 Location: Lewiston Media: Phototransparency

Item 6993

Workers at textile mill, Lewiston, ca. 1900

Contributed by: Lewiston Public Library Date: circa 1900 Location: Lewiston Media: Phototransparency

Online Exhibits

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Exhibit

Biddeford, Saco and the Textile Industry

The largest textile factory in the country reached seven stories up on the banks of the Saco River in 1825, ushering in more than a century of making cloth in Biddeford and Saco. Along with the industry came larger populations and commercial, retail, social, and cultural growth.

Exhibit

Silk Manufacturing in Westbrook

Cultivation of silkworms and manufacture of silk thread was touted as a new agricultural boon for Maine in the early 19th century. However, only small-scale silk production followed. In 1874, the Haskell Silk Co. of Westbrook changed that, importing raw silk, and producing silk machine twist threat, then fabrics, until its demise in 1930.

Exhibit

The Swinging Bridge: Walking Across the Androscoggin

Built in 1892 to entice workers at the Cabot Manufacturing Corporation in Brunswick to move to newly built housing in Topsham, the Androscoggin Pedestrian "Swinging" Bridge or Le Petit Pont quickly became important to many people traveling between the two communities.

Site Pages

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Site Page

Biddeford History & Heritage Project - The Civil War/Reconstruction Era as Experienced in Biddeford & Saco - Page 5 of 17

"… 1848Dyer Library/Saco Museum The cotton textile manufacturing industry became very significant in Biddeford once the Laconia Mills and Pepperell…"

Site Page

Biddeford History & Heritage Project - The Civil War/Reconstruction Era as Experienced in Biddeford & Saco - Page 7 of 17

"… city during the 1800’s and early 1900’s as the textile industry in Maine thrived. Like ice, this industry was international and products shipped…"

Site Page

Biddeford History & Heritage Project - The Civil War/Reconstruction Era as Experienced in Biddeford & Saco - Page 2 of 17

"… for ice harvesting, granite cutting, and cotton textile manufacturing. Businesses that supported the war did well and were able to hire more…"

My Maine Stories

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Story

My career working at Pepperell Mills in the Vellux Division
by David Bishop

My 35 years working in the Vellux blanket division of Pepperell Mills, Biddeford.

Story

Everything we did was new and exciting in the Vellux division
by Maurice Paquette

If you applied yourself you could do anything at Pepperell Mills.

Story

A Maine Family's story of being Prisoners of War in Manila
by Nicki Griffin

As a child, born after the war, I would hear these stories - glad they were finally written down