In the 1830s, retired Salem mariner Nathaniel Griffin (1796-1876) saw an opportunity for the creation of a local cotton mill and began raising funds to organize a company. Desirous of a location that would offer the right level of humidity and be accessible by ship, he chose 30 acres of waterfront at Stage Point (The Point) for the mill’s construction, which commenced in June 1845. The Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company began production in 1847 with the first steam powered cotton mill in the country, which cost $621,199 to build. The company shipped cotton products internationally and quickly became the city’s largest employer, initially employing 600 workers. Job opportunities attracted immigrants to the area and the surrounding neighborhood become home to many French-Canadians and Franco-Americans. Polish immigrants also worked in the mills and settled nearby in the Historic Derby Street neighborhood. At the time, factory work was gendered, and women were primarily employed in textile mills like Naumkeag, while men worked for leather tanneries.
In the fall of 1911, photographer Lewis Hines visited industrial workplaces across New England, including Salem to document child labor. Hines took multiple photographs of young children working at the mills of the Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company, which were used by the National Child Labor Committee in their successful campaign to end child labor. The company grew steadily and by the early 20th century had more than 2,700 looms in operation, weaving Pequot sheets and pillowcases, earning the nickname the Pequot Mills.
The Great Salem Fire swept through the city in June of 1914, destroying much of The Point neighborhood, including the Pequot Mills. Of the company’s twenty buildings only two small outbuildings stood after the inferno. The company was heavily insured and quickly began reconstruction, this time powering their plant with electricity. The new layout allowed for even more efficiency and the business grew larger than ever, employing more than 2,000 people. The company celebrated the Tercentenary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1930 with the construction of the Pequot House on the corner of Congress Street. Designed by architect Philip Horton Smith, the structure was built as a replica of Salem’s famous first period homes and was filled with antiques. The company hired costumed guides to give tours and later used the building as a hospitality suite.
Despite moments of celebration, the Pequot Mills was not without unrest. Employees regularly discussed going on strike while negotiating for better conditions and wages, first striking in 1918. In 1932, employee salary was cut 10% and it was announced by management that women who married and already married women whose husbands also worked for the Pequot Mills would be fired that July. This was protested and their union countered with a proposal that all married women would only work three weeks per month to cut costs.
In May 1933, more than 1,800 employees staged a walkout in response to an increased workload in which employees were expected to operate 24 looms instead of 20, and 150 planned job cuts targeting married women. More than 900 married women were employed by the company at the time. A gathering was held at the Now and Then Club on Salem Common, where Naumkeag’s president Thomas F. McMahon and local union leader Joseph Fecteau answered employee’s questions for more than two hours. McMahon advised employees to return to work by Monday to help fulfill a large order, threatening to shutter the mills for the summer if not indefinitely. Fecteau, presidents of Local 33 of the United Textile Workers of America union also urged employees to return to work while negotiations continued but this request was refused by multiple votes. McMahon insisted he operated one of the best mills in the country with up-to-date equipment and high wages. He declared the strike illegal and the mills remained closed that Monday and picketing began. Tensions rose between workers and union leaders over numbered ballots, which could be used to blacklist dissenting members. Fecteau maintained that ballots were numbered to identify which departments may be willing to return to work and not to bully individual protesters.
Strikers began holding regular meetings in English, French, and Polish, a sign of solidarity among Salem’s immigrant populations. The 1933 strike was marred by violent weeks of protest, which included a woman being attacked by strikers as she attempted to go to work; bricks being thrown at the mill buildings; and the local union president Joseph Fecteau being shot in his Salem home. The worker’s demands were ultimately met, though the city’s hold on manufacturing had already begun to wane and job loss remained a concern. The 1933 strike remains of great interest to historians and researchers of labor relations.
After World War II, many New England textile plants began to move their operations south. The Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company followed, moving to Alabama in 1953, leaving more than 800 people unemployed. The company entered a merger and manufactured under the name Indian Head until 1975, when they were acquired by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Group. The site of the old Pequot Mills in Salem was later revamped with white paint and transformed into Shetland Park, a multi-use complex of offices, businesses, and warehouses.
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Digitized Archives
Naumkeag Steam Cotton Co. Photographs and Ephemera
Naumkeag Steam Cotton Co. Photo Album, 1907
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