Charlottesville Woolen Mills records

The Charlottesville Woolen Mills factory was incorporated in 1868 by H.C. Marchant and was located in the southeastern part of Charlottesville, VA.

From the 1830s until it's seizure by the Confederate governement in 1861, the building operated as a combination wool, cotton, flour and lumber mill, and later also included a blacksmith’s shop, corn mill, grist mill, plaster mill, and a store selling dry goods. During this time the land was sold a number of times until 1960, when the company was reorganized as the Charlottesville Manufacturing Company, with John A. Marchant, his son. Henry Clay Marchant, John Wood, H. L. Anderson, T. J. Wertenbaker, and John C. Patterson operating a joint stock company. The textile plant provided wool uniforms for the soldiers of the Confederacy during the Civil War. A second reorganization in 1964 made Henry Clay Marchant the sole owner. Following the destruction of the mill during the Civil War and after the war had ended, the factory was rebuilt, and, on December 18, 1868, Charlottesville Woolen Mills was chartered “for the manufacture, purchase and sale of woolen, cotton, silk and other fabrics ...”

The plant went on to provide high quality textiles used by Brooks Brothers clothiers, uniforms for the cadets of West Point, and police officers in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles. At one point 90 percent of the country’s military schools, including the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, purchased uniforms made here. Coffin makers in Atlanta and Burlington, N.C., also used the soft cloth to line caskets.

Charlottesvills Woolen Mills survived the Great Depression of the 1930s mainly because of its uniform contracts. It experienced its greatest prosperity manufacturing uniforms for soldiers during World War I and II. During the height of World War II a work force of about 400 people was producing 15,000 yards of uniform cloth a month.

In 1959 Charlottesville Woolen Mills was bought by Kent Manufacturing Company, of Philadelphia. The introduction of synthetic fabrics in the late 1950s led to a decrease in demand for wool. In 1962 Kent Manufacturing Company dissolved the Charlottesville Woolen Mills.

Sources:

Maurer, David. "Woolen Mills wove a tight community." The Daily Progress, http://www.dailyprogress.com/lifestyles/woolen-mills-wove-a-tight-community/article_467a3534-5d1b-5f83-abdb-f1a170eb0396.html. 28 Aug. 2011.

Delesline, Nate. "Historic Woolen Mills under contract for sale." The Daily Progress, http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/historic-woolen-mills-under-contract-for-sale/article_7512bd70-b082-11e3-9f64-0017a43b2370.html. 20 March 2014.

Dailty Progress Staff. "Labor dispute at Woolen Mills leads to worker strike." The Daily Progress, http://www.dailyprogress.com/125yearsofprogress/labor-dispute-at-woolen-mills-leads-to-worker-strike/article_49c5dff0-ec7d-11e6-9604-4f40db426882.html. 6 Feb. 2017.

Gianniny, Jr., Allan, Compiler. "Charlottesville Woolen Mills Chronology." Historic Woolen Mills, http://historicwoolenmills.org/chronology.html. Accessed 19 Feb. 2018.

Britton, Rick. "The Charlottesville Woolen Mills, Clothing a Nation." Historic Woolen Mills, http://historicwoolenmills.org/Charlottesville.html. 2006.

Poindexter, Harry Edward. "A History of the Charlottesville Woolen Mills." Thesis (M.A.), University of Virginia, 1955.

Daily Progress Staff. "City's Oldest Industry is Regaining Health." The Daily Progress Charlottesville Bicentennial Edition, vol. 72, no. 89, 1962, p. 58.

Sandbeck, Peter. A History of the Charlottesville Woolen Mills.Nichols Student Papers, University of Virginia School of Architecture, 1975.