Amoskeag Manufacturing Company records

Amoskeag Manufacturing Company was a textile manufacturer based in Manchester, New Hampshire. Benjamin Prichard and others incorporated the Amoskeag Cotton & Woolen Manufacturing Company. The mill was unprofitable and passed hands multiple times until it passed to the creditors Samuel Slater and Larned Pitcher in 1822. In 1825, Slater and Pitcher sold 3/5's of the company to Dr. Oliver Dean, Lyman Tiffany and Willard Sayles. Under Dr. Dean's leadership, the factory village of Amoskeag was constructed including three mills, boarding houses, and stores. It was incorpoarated as Amoskeag Manufacturing Company on July 1, 1831. Amoskeag architects and engineers worked to design Manchester as a model factory town, and Manchester was incorporated as a city in 1846. Amoskeag Manufacturing Company grew through the 19th century until it was the larges cotton textile plant in the world. A majority of the workers were women, and were monitored at work at home for expected moral and physical behavior. Employees initially came from nearby farming communities but as the mill grew it attracted immigrant labor from Quebec, Greece, Germany, Sweden and Poland. Amoskeag Manufacturing began to decline in the post-World War I recession. The company cut hours and wages by 20 percent in 1922. The ensuing labor strikes and negotiations hurt the company's reputation with employees and customers. Amoskeag was also not able to compete with new mills opening in the South. Amoskeag Manufacturing declared bankruptcy on December 24, 1935. In 1936, the mill was closed and the company liquidated.