Dedham Woolen Mills

In 1824, Benjamin Bussey purchased the Dedham Worsted Company mill after its collapse, which was just three years after they opened.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} He obtained the land, the buildings, machinery, and water rights in the purchase.^[4] This was his second mill on Mother Brook, after the Norfolk Cotton Company.^[4]

Bussey combined the two mills as the Dedham Woolen Mills.^[6] In so doing, he established Mother Brook's first successful woolen mill, as well as the first fully integrated textile mill.^[7] He set up a one stop shop in which everything the carding and combing of the raw materials to the weaving, fulling, and dyeing of the finished product would be done at a single location and under common management.^[7] It would also be one of the first mills to produce broadcloth.^[8] It was in production between 1824 and 1843.^[4]

In September 1827, while John Quincy Adams was vising Massachusetts, he toured the Dedham Woolen Mills.^[9] According to Adams, the profits on the mill were small and Bussey "engaged in this undertaking upon patriotic motives."^[8]

The selling agents, A.A. Lawrence & Company, sold 20% of the textiles produced in Massachusetts and the rest around the country and as far west as the frontier.^[8] There were heavy financial losses in 1837 and 1838, but it was very profitable in other years.^[10]

Once Bussey owned both the first and second privileges, he spent a large amount of money to improve them over the next decade.^[11] The first thing he did was to lower the dam at the second privilege to increase the water power spinning the wheel.^[11] He also expanded the buildings there, building a larger building made of brick.^[11] It also burned peat for steam power, making it the most complex and most sophisticated mill ever on Mother Brook.^[8]

There was a fire in the dye house in 1827.^[12]

By 1832, it was the largest mill on Mother Brook and had new, cast iron machinery valued at $40,000.^[8] It processed 375,000 pounds of wool and produced 150,000 yards of cloth.^[8] There were 262 employees in the mill that year.^[8] They diversified their offerings, and began producing cheaper fabrics for sale, including a less refined form of broadcloth known as cassimere, as well as satinets.^[13]

Just two years later, setbacks in the economy caused them to lay off 200 employees and reduce the amount of wool they processed by 300,000 pounds.^[12]

Bussey's three principal assistants in the Dedham Woolen Mills were George H. Kuhn, John Golding, and Thomas Barrows.^[6][2] Kuhn was Bussey's agent and treasurer.^[6][a] By 1833, he was Bussey's partner in the mill.^[6] He later became the executor of Bussey's estate.^[6]

Golding was an inventor who received nearly 60 patents in his life.^[14] As the overseer of the machinery in Bussey's mills, he was endlessly tinkering with them and made the process of carding much more efficient, and much cheaper.^[11] Barrows became the superintendent, and oversaw the day-to-day operations.^[11]

The new machines were larger and more efficient than the old, wooden looms they replaced.^[15] They also required more strength to operate than a child could provide, which necessitated a move away from child labor.^[15] Instead, the Dedham Woolen Mills began hiring unmarried Yankee women between the ages of 15 and 25.^[15]

In 1827, there were about 60 young women working at the mill.^[8] They were paid $0.60 a day, compared to the $0.90 a day men were paid.^[12]