Saturday, April 3, 2010
Return To The Tinsel Mill
Turrel, Cambria, and myself made a return trip to a mill we'd visited a few weeks ago the other day after some scouting. Again this time, we had very little time left before we had to leave, so we rushed through once again. One of these days, I'd like to actually take my time here, because it's a fairly rad place.
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Interesting pictures but very sad for me. My dad resigned from Johnson & Johnson and joined Union Wadding as Executive Vice President in 1946. At that time they were still using horses to haul product across the street to the rail yard for shipping. The primary and perhaps only product was non-woven cotton fabric used as milk filters, padding, etc. I worked there several summers moving large bales of incoming cotton. It was a large and old complex which had seen many additions over the years resulting different buildings, varying levels making it difficult to navigate with a hand truck loaded with a large and heavy bale on it.
ReplyDeleteIn order to expand sales, various new products using the same non-woven product, were developed. First was SparkleTex which was a circular Christmas tree skirt with multi colored sparkles. Later flower seeds were imbeded in the wadding to provide a "roll out garden". Even later complementary products manufactured by others, such as plastic icecicles cut in a design to reflect light as a Christmas tree ornament, were added.
My dad retired in the mid/early '60s. He had been President for a number of years and as an honor for what he had accomplished, he was made Chairman of the Board just before retiring.
On the seawall of my parents retirement home in Sarasota, he had a gilded iron statue of an eagle which had been on a large boiler which had been taken out of service.
He passed away in 1994 and while he saw the company's decline after he retired, I'm glad he never saw the pictures of the fire but even more so, that he never saw the devastating pictures you provided showing what had once been a clean, effecient, busy and profitable mill, had become.
We visited the site after the rubble from the fire had been cleared. Lots and lots of memories.
George,
DeleteI lived and grew up in Pawtucket and remember the mill well. I remember the sign on the corner of the building that always had a message for the people who drove by. I have a poster of a young woman in a fur coat holding the Christmas products Union Wadding manufactured. Would you know of anyone, who I can contact, to learn of the identity of this person. It's an advertisement poster for the company. Please contact me at tallman884@gmail.com and I thank you in advance for your help.
I'm not sure I ever noticed this comment before. Thanks so much for sharing some history with us. I would have loved to have seen the building during it's days of operation, but I am glad to have visited as often as I did after it's abandonment. The night of the fire, I happened to be driving by on the highway and saw the flames and smoke. We drove in that direction to find Union burning. I shot the fire for almost 4 hours. It was terribly sad.
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