A Guide to the
Crefeld Mills Corporation
in the Manuscript Collection of the
Rhode Island Historical Society Library
Processed by Harold E. Kemble, Jr., July 1977
2 ft.
Mss 6 sg 9
Accession: #1971. 85. 1. 1-
Historical Note:
In September, 1886, the State of Connecticut granted permission for the name of the Moss Manufacturing Company to be changed to the Crefeld Mills Corporation. This change reflected the completion of the takeover of the Moss Company by W. F. & F. C. Sayles. The takeover began in 1876 when Moss borrowed from Sayles to finance expansion. Through a series of mortgages Sayles acquired a controlling number of shares and inserted their men into the management structure. In 1888 the Sayles brothers were on the board of directors and had installed Charles O. Read as president. W. Maxwell Greene, secretary and later treasurer, had a long career with Sayles. F. H. Potter, mill agent, was the Sayles' nominee. Under Sayles control, Crefeld converted from the manufacture of cotton goods to woolens. In 1896 or 1897 the corporation was absorbed into the Lorraine Manufacturing Company of Saylesville, where the Crefeld Waste and Batting Company was formed. The terminal period of the Crefeld Mill at Westerly appears to have begun with the opening of the new Sayles Biltmore Bleacheries in North Carolina, in 1927. The plant seems to have been unused for some time before it was leased between 1940-1944 to a division of the United Aircraft Corporation; it was sold in 1944. The records do not explain the use by the L.A. Lockwood Company of letterhead stationery showing a plant identical to that of the Crefeld Waste and Batting Company.
Bibliography:
Rhode Island Historical Society, Manuscript Collections. Inventories of Record Group 6, Sayles
Finishing Plants Collection, Sub-Groups 18 and 22.
Scope and Content:
These records pertain to the manufacture of cotton goods, especially "bed comfortables," or quilts.They are most interesting in the context of the progression from Moss Manufacturing -- Crefeld Mills -- Lorraine Manufacturing. This illustrates one of the ways in which the Sayles organization grew to be the giant conglomerate that it was
Provenance:
This collection was a gift from the Sayles Finishing Plants on 25 December 1971.
Inventory:
Company Record
Item 1. Including minutes and by-laws Oct 1887 - Sep 1894
Journal Cash
Item 2. Book A, Comfortable Department Mar 1890 - Nov 1892
Item 3. Book A, Saylesville Department Apr 1890 - Dec 1892
Item 4. Book B, Westerly and Saylesville Jan 1893 - Aug 1894
Item 5. Book C Sep 1894 - Apr 1896
Item 6. Book D Apr 1896 - Oct 1896
Cash Book
Item 7. Crefeld Electrical Department Sep 1895 - Jun 1897
Cash Balance
Item 8. Sep 1893 - Jun 1894
Miscellaneous Cash Accounts
Item 9. 1891, 1898
Trial Balance - Westerly Department
Item 10. Book A Apr 1890 - Sep 1896
Ledgers
Item 11. Nov 1887 - Aug 1888
Item 12. Elberfeld Mills May - Jul 1888
Item 13. Book C Jun - Oct 1893
Letters
Item 14. Copy Book A Jan 1892 - Oct 1894
Prices and Terms to Customers
Item 15. Comfortable Department Jan 1892 - Dec 1893
Frank L. Palmer, et.al. vs. Crefeld Mills, et.al.
Item 16. 1893
Ledger, "Comfortables Sold to Palmer Brothers and Charged To Them on Memo."
Item 17. 1894 - 1895
Wage Rate Book
Item 18. n.d.
(Cataloging information)
Main Entry:
Mss
6
sg 9 Westerly, R.I.
Business records, 1888-1898 2 ft.
A Westerly cotton mill taken over by Sayles and converted to woolens.
Accession: #1971. 85. 1. 1-
Additional Entries:
Business records - Rhode Island - Saylesville.
Business records - Rhode Island - Westerly.
Cotton manufacture - Rhode Island - Westerly.
Crefeld Waste and Batting Company.
Elberfekd Mills.
Fessenden, Samuel M.
Greene, William Maxwell.
L.A. Lockwook Company.
Moss Manufacturing Company.
Palmer, Frank L
Potter, F. H.
Read, Charles Otis, 1846-1926.
Sayles Finishing Plants.
Textile factories - Rhode Island - Westerly.
Textile industry - Rhode Island - Saylesville.
Textile industry - Rhode Island - Westerly.
Wool industry - Rhode Island - Westerly.