Wamsutta Company

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Wamsutta Company, also known as Wamsutta Mills, was located in New Bedford, Massachusetts, a port known for its whaling ships. The company was named for Wamsutta, the son of an Native American chief who negotiated an early alliance with the English settlers of the Plymouth Colony in the 17th century.

Wamsutta Company's textile mill was founded on the banks of the Acushnet River in 1846 and opened in 1848. It was the first of many textile mills that gradually came to supplant whaling as the principal employer in New Bedford. Other mills in the area soon sprang up. By the 1870s, cotton textile manufacture was more important to the local economy than whaling.

Wamsutta Mills expanded several times, until by 1892, with a total of seven mills, Wamsutta was the largest cotton weaving plant in the world. In 1897 Wamsutta was operating 4450 looms and employing 2100 workers.

In modern times, Wamsutta is a brand name of Springs Global US, Inc., a textile conglomerate headquartered in Fort Mill, South Carolina. In 2004, the historic Wamustta Mills complex in Massachusetts was slated for redevelopment according to officials of New Bedford.

A ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the initiation of the renovation of the mill was held on November 8, 2006. Please see: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/11-06/11-01-06/02local.htm