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Copyright 2002-2006, Quilter's Muse Publications.  All rights reserved. 
                                 Patricia and James Cummings,  Concord, NH

Two Communities that Conserve
"Pieces of the Past"

by Patricia L. Cummings

photos by James Cummings
 

Willimantic

Does any other town in the world have frog sculptures on the corners of a bridge? This sight is only one of the reasons we love Willimantic, Connecticut! The story behind the frogs is as delightful as the history of the mills there.

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A Frog Story for You

Without a doubt, the four large frog sculptures that are located at the corners of a bridge near the former mills in Willimantic, Connecticut are the most charming part of any town that we have ever seen! The bullfrogs, each sitting on top of a (cement) spool of cotton, commemorate an event that is now referred to as, “The Windham Frog Battle of 1754.”

The story, based on a true event, calls to mind the night that residents were awakened from a sound sleep by a call to muster. Hearing a cacophony of noise, they geared up for an attack by the French and Indians. In reality, the deafening noise was being caused by bullfrogs engaged in middle of the night confrontations over a few remaining puddles of water, at a time of extreme drought. This heartwarming story is just a part of the lure and lore of Willimantic.

The Mills of Willimantic

We first became interested in learning more about Willimantic, after having found some Victorian trade cards in an antiques store. The cards from “Thread City,” as Willimantic has come to be known, were made to advertise the quality of the threads produced there. A previous article was devoted to the discussion of these kinds of collectible cards which are really miniature art chrome lithographs that are quite lovely.

On the day that we traveled to Willimantic from our home in New Hampshire, we had intended to try to locate the site of the former mills. However, we discovered that new businesses now occupy the old mill buildings. Luckily, we spotted the Windham History and Textile Museum which is right across the street, housed in two neighboring buildings. Upon entering the gift shop area of the museum, we were warmly greeted by Beverly York, the museum’s director, who doubled as a tour guide on that day.

First, Beverly escorted us to a brick building where old machinery and mill artifacts are stored. We were able to see an imposing example of an early Jacquard loom, which appears to be positively lethal in its guillotine-like formation. Other machines, such as the cotton carding machine and a cotton spinning machine, were quite a bit less daunting. Many different samples of Willimantic thread, as well as, tools, for both carpenters and mechanics, are also on display. Bev provided us with much information about Willimantic’s former mill populations and described the lives of workers when the mills were a center of bustling activity.

The second stage of the tour was to return to the wooden structure next door. The Museum Shop, where we had first met Bev, is on the ground level, but the multi-floored house contains extensive upstairs areas. On the second floor, there is a room where account books were kept and where workers could trade their hours for goods, on account. On the same floor, room vignettes have been set up to simulate immigrant workers’ living quarters. These include home décor items that certain ethnic groups might have owned.

Next, we trekked up the stairs to the third floor where a very large room served as a library and meeting area for the workers. This area was utilized for many purposes, including the instruction of English, as well as cultural events.

Thread Strong Enough to Hold Down A Giant

Upon returning to the Museum Shop, we found it a delightful place to browse. There is an array of items from which to choose but the one which caught my eye is a tin sign with a decorative scene. Larger than a car license plate, the card depicts Gulliver, (of Gulliver’s Travels’ fame), tied down with “Willimantic’s Best Six Cord Spool Cotton.” This is the same, enlarged image as a Victorian trade card in my collection.

To my surprise, that Willimantic trade card is exactly the same as one produced by JP Coats which has only replaced the trade name for their own. Trade cards were about the size of baseball cards. Often, they look like miniature art pieces. Given away free by companies to advertise their products, they were collected in scrapbooks and were often traded.

The Willimantic trade cards of “Thread City” provide small clue to the former bustling activity of these mills located in the manufacturing district of Windham, Connecticut. The swift-flowing Willimantic River provided water-power for The Willimantic Linen Co., whose name was later changed to the American Thread Company.

The year 1820 marked the arrival of the first immigrant mill workers to Willimantic. While some were seeking relief from political oppression, or were reaching for religious freedom, all were seeking a better life. As in other mill areas of the northeast, immigrant workers had hailed from such places as Canada, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Italy, Lebanon, Ireland, and finally, Puerto Rico. For more than one hundred and thirty years, the mills had been at the core of Willimantic’s community. The mill doors closed for the last time in 1985.

Oral Histories of Mill Workers Captured in Print

The lives of immigrant workers come to life in the book, Willimantic Industry and Community: The Rise and Decline of a Connecticut Textile City, by Thomas Beardsley, because of the oral history interviews that were conducted with former mill workers. The book is an invaluable historical resource because of its insights into the daily lives of nineteenth and twentieth century mill workers. There is no greater substitute than first hand accounts to help us to understand the lives and times of days past.

Innovations Lead to Success

Silk thread, cotton thread, and man-made thread, as well as a limited amount of cloth, were manufactured by the Willimantic mills. The success of the mills was due to the willingness of their owners to be innovative. An example of this was the first-ever installation of electric lights in mill buildings. Another case in point is the extensive use of humidifiers which kept the cotton thread from drying out while it was being processed. As a result, the thread was more durable than other domestic sewing threads, and market-wise, it was able to compete with the best threads made in England.

Strategically located along a major train route between Boston and Rhode Island, the Willimantic mills became a vital part of the American Industrial Revolution.

William Eliot Barrows, a paternalistic overseer of the mills until 1883, is credited with helping the workers by instituting educational resources, religious services, and voice and drama lessons, as well as, coffee breaks, free meals, and quality housing. He also initiated the playing of team sports, such as baseball, as a way to build camaraderie among co-workers.

There is so much more to know about Willimantic. The reader will find online resources and the many writings of Thomas Beardsley to be of interest.

Must-See Quilt Shop

"Quilter’s Dream," a well-stocked quilt shop, is just down the street from the Windham History and Textile Museum. With its more than five thousand bolts of fabric and its friendly staff, it is no wonder that the shop was featured in the Quilt Sampler magazine. The shop even carries silk thread in colors not often seen, such as navy blue! Coincidentally, Larisa Key, one of the shop’s owners, is a frequent contributor of quilt designs for The Quilter magazine.

This Mariner’s Compass quilt is one of more of many other quilts of the same pattern that Mrs. Prindle made in her lifetime. She would take orders from neighbors and always kept pieces of fabric ready in her sewing basket to start another quilt. There is a photo of the quiltmaker, her biography, and a photo of the “Sunburst” quilt shown here in the book, Quilts and Quiltmakers: Covering Connecticut, published by the Connecticut Quilt Search Project in 2002. Lovely Little Crib Quilt

A little crib quilt, 33 ½” x 34”, in the collection, is reminiscent of the English style “strippy” quilts. This quilt was made by an unknown nineteenth century quiltmaker. Vertical strips, pieced with half-square triangle units made from a scrap bag assortment of fabrics, alternate with wider pieces of print calico in this hand quilted quilt. The corners are rounded and the backing is a calico with a small scale print of red, green, and cream colors.

Mystery Solved

The file falsely identified one quilt as “Crown of Victoria” or “Crescent Star - Crown of Victoria variation”. The block name did not ring true. After searching many quilt indexes and even inquiring in British quilt history circles, the published pattern name remained elusive. Then, on a tip from a helpful soul, the design was found in the book, Garden of Quilts, by Mary Elizabeth Johnson (Oxmoor House, 1984), called “Bird of Paradise” there, on page 44. Since then, various other names for the block have been discovered including “Star of the West,” “Star and Crescent,” “King’s Crown,” “Compass,” “The Four Winds,”
“Star of the Four Winds,” “Star Crescent,” and “Friendship Medley Quilt.” These pattern names are listed in the Blockbase program.

                                       
     Blocks from the nineteenth century "Mystery Quilt" appear above.

In the case of the quilt in the Sharon collection, the scrap bag approach taken by the quiltmaker for piecing the blocks is quite spontaneous and surprising. The quilts’ colors include brown, red, pink, yellow, and maroon calico from the 1865-1890 period. Upon inquiry and investigation, Liz Shapiro, curator of the collection, stated that the quilt may have been confused with another object, possibly a woven coverlet, which was donated at the same time. No matter what name, if any, the quilt had been given by an unknown nineteenth century quiltmaker, we thoroughly enjoyed seeing it.

Two-Sided Quilt: Pieced Wool and Pieced Cotton

One side of an extremely interesting bed size quilt features pieced stars and “Hour Glass” blocks of wool, in indigo and orange-red colors. Rectangles and squares of wool have been utilized to “fill-out” the design. The surprise comes in finding out that the other side of the quilt has a pieced “Tumbling Blocks” pattern, in dark hues typical of the late nineteenth century. The cotton side of this quilt was finished by turning in the edge all around. However, the wool side was left unturned. The two are stitched together with a running stitch.

The wool edge has worn so well, it made me wonder if it had been felted. (Wool can be felted -compacted- by exposing it to extremes of temperatures in the washing process). Felting is desirable because it creates a product with more sturdy edges, suitable for making penny rugs or, in this case, for leaving unfinished.

Squares Are Fun

An exciting quilt in the collection is a cheerful scrap quilt composed of many squares. The then popular colors of poison green, browns, and pink, find a home on its surface. Unbleached muslin provides areas in which the quilter can show off her proficiency in the execution of tiny and evenly made stitches. As the quilt hung while having its picture taken, we noticed that the quilter had used muslin as a backing. This choice of a solid color fabric further drew attention to her fine hand-quilting abilities.

The shocking feature of the quilt is the lavender wool twill tape binding. Since it is quite frayed and worn away by moths, it is clear that the tape is not a recent addition. Somehow, it looks out of sync, color-wise, and time-wise, with the rest of the quilt. The quilt measures 81” x 83”. As is the case of many quilts of the nineteenth century, the quiltmaker’s name is unknown.

A Thank You

We certainly enjoyed our two trips to Willimantic and to Sharon, located in different areas of Connecticut. The directors of the museum we visited were most cordial and welcoming. We thank Beverly York and Elizabeth Shapiro for giving us their time and their attention. We look forward to another opportunity to see quilts in Connecticut, and to explore the textile traditions of our neighbors to the south.

Resources

Connecticut History, Volume 42, Number 2, Fall 2003, (especially):
“Willimantic: Textile City,” Thomas R. Beardsley, ISSN: 0884-7177.
97-119.

Legendary Connecticut: Traditional Tales from the Nutmeg State: “The Windham Frog Fight,” David E. Philips, pages 215-218. (Willimantic: Curbstone Press, 2001). This book contains a very charming account of the Frog Battle of 1754.

Willimantic Industry and Community: The Rise and Decline of a Connecticut Textile City, Thomas R. Beardsley (Willimantic: Windham Textile and History Museum, 1999). ISBN: 0-9634524-0-1.

Comments? Questions? Write to:  pat@quiltersmuse.com