Amoskeag Manufacturing Company
The making of a mill town

Manchester, New Hampshire literally grew up around the mills of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company. From planning the city streets to populating them, the mills of Amoskeag Manufacturing dominated the city for more than 100 years.

Today, the millyard of the former Amoskeag Power Plant thrives with establishments vital to Manchester's revival.
Courtesy, The Union Leader and Sunday News
www.theunionleader.com

It all started in 1810, the same year that Manchester was named after the English city famed for its textile manufacturing. The Amoskeag Cotton and Woolen Manufacturing Company took over a small mill along the west bank of the Merrimack River near the Amoskeag Falls. That drew the attention of Boston entrepreneurs, who bought the company and reincorporated it as the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company.

After purchasing the water power rights to the entire river, the company began building a huge mill complex on a 15,000-acre plot near the Amoskeag Falls. As the mill grew, the city grew right along with it. During the civil war, Amoskeag Manufacturing Company had a foundry, made rifles, locomotives and textile machinery. At its peak in 1915, the mill had 17,000 workers, eight million square feet of floor space and wove 164,000 miles of cloth in 74 different departments.

No one could have predicted that by the end of World War I, Amoskeag Manufacturing would be in decline, the victim of outdated technology, competition from the South and high labor costs. In an effort to recover, management lengthened working hours and cut pay by 20 percent. This, in turn, led to a disastrous strike. In 1929, the Great Depression added to the company's woes and by 1933 workers were becoming more and more discontented, resulting in a violent strike that the New Hampshire state militia was called to bring under control. By 1934, the workers had joined a national strike and in 1935 the mills of Amoskeag Manufacturing abruptly closed.

Many believed the mills would eventually reopen, but in 1936 a great flood damaged several of the mills and the boilers that powered them, ending any hope that the company would recover.

When it became apparent that the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company would have to be liquidated, Avery Schiller, then vice president of operations at PSNH, was among a group of Manchester business leaders who formed a new corporation, Amoskeag Industries, to ensure the orderly redevelopment of the abandoned millyard. PSNH bought the bankrupt firm's Manchester Steam Plant, as well as 18 percent of Amoskeag Industries' stock, which provided the new corporation with the leverage it needed to buy and redevelop the mill properties.

By the end of 1937, almost half of the mill buildings were filled with new businesses. Later, the entire mill area was very much involved in production associated with World War II.

Today, the millyard is once again an important part of Manchester's economy, providing space for software companies, restaurants, museums and art studios, as well as a wide range of industries.