The Textile Industry in Connecticut:

Early History of Textiles in Connecticut

The production of textiles in Connecticut first began with individuals, women spinning thread and yarn, and creating homemade garments. Some of the earliest textile factories in Connecticut were no larger than a one-room shack, notably the Silk Mill in Mansfield. Even on such a small scale, the government sought to encourage production of raw silk in Mansfield by paying farmers to raise silkworms. By the 1830’s large factories began to spring up along Connecticut rivers and mill towns developed around them, creating the textile industry as we now know it.

< The history of the silk industry in Connecticut, which was later developed and made famous by the Cheney brothers in Manchester, had its humble beginnings in this one-room building in Mansfield in 1810. In an industry on such a small scale the process of silk manufacturing was not automated. Instead the people of Mansfield grew their own silkworms and reeled and spun their own silk.

West View of the Hartford Co.’s Cotton Factories
Glastonbury, 1836
Photo CD: 2480
File: Img0006.pcd

< This drawing by John Warner Barber depicts a cotton mill in Glastonbury. It is interesting to note that in the majority of Barber’s illustrations of towns the buildings he most often notes are the churches, taverns and the factories. The importance of the factory to a town often becomes visible when examining the way the town is depicted in both writing and illustration.

View of Rockville from Fox Hill
Rockville, 1851
Photo CD: 0521
File: Img0014.pcd

< Although this drawing is a wonderful depiction of an early mill town, it is the inscription next to the picture that shows the importance of a mill to the success of the town. Even though this is a view of the entire town, all of the statistics relate to the mills. This is an example of how central Rockville’s mills were to its identity.

< As the textile industry grew and new technologies and methods were developed, factory production began on an even larger scale. Dunham Mill was supposedly the first worsted mill in the U.S., manufacturing wool and yarn. During the course of the 1800s and the early 1900s, Connecticut became the home to a successful and diversified textile economy.

Link to other essays in this Journey:

>> Introduction: The Textile Industry in Connecticut
>> Diversity of Textiles
>> Child Labor
>> Immigrant Workers
>> Housing for Factory Workers
>> Stages of Textile Processing

>> Guideposts
>> Suggestions for further reading