Bernat Mill - The Bachman Uxbridge Worsted Company

The Bachman Uxbridge Worsted Company

The mill was featured in the August 24, 1953 edition of Time Magazine, in an article entitled, "The Pride of Uxbridge" as the site of the Bachman Uxbridge Worsted Company, which was then one of the most successful textile mills in New England. The Time Magazine article interviewed the CEO of Bachman Uxbridge Worsted Company, Harold Walter. This company had been started by Edward Bachman of New York City, and Harold Walters's father-in-law, Charles Arthur Root, of Uxbridge. This site was the hub of seven plants throughout the U.S., employing 6000 plus workers, and some of its wool synthetic blends dominated the women's fashion industry in the early 1950s.

The first woolen mill in the Blackstone Valley was built in Uxbridge in 1810(3rd in US), and by 1953, the Bachman Uxbridge Worsted Company was on the verge of a merger with the debt laden American Woolen Company to become the largest US woolen manufacturer. The Town of Uxbridge had become synonymous with woolen manufacturing, "blended fabrics", complete vertical integration of textiles to clothing, and textile industry efficiency innovations, when production peaked in the early 1950s.

Research into textiles at Bachman Uxbridge Worsted Company produced a range of blended fabrics, including the "wool-nylon serge" used for army uniforms. The original U.S Air Force Uniform produced at the factory was dubbed and patented "Uxbridge Blue" or "Uxbridge 1683", after blue dye color selected at Bachman Uxbridge. This dye was used in the manufacture of uniforms from 1947.

"In January 1948 President Truman approved authorization of the proposed new blue Air Force uniform and a week after that Air Force Chief of Staff Hoyt Vandenberg officially circulated word that funding had been approved by the congressional appropriations committee. The new uniform, incorprating a shade of blue fabric (patented as 'Uxbridge Blue' and based on "Uxbridge 1683 Blue, cable shade 84", developed at the former Bachman-Uxbridge Worsted Company) would be available for distribution by September 1950". “Shortly thereafter, on Mar 29 1954, Time magazine reported; "American Woolen Co. will ask its stockholders to approve a merger with Bachmann Uxbridge Worsted Corp. As a combined operation, troubled American Woolen (1953 sales, $73,494,160; net loss, $9,476,981) and Bachmann Uxbridge (1953 sales, $52,609,000; profit, $272,000) would be by far the biggest woolen manufacturer in the country. Textron, Inc., which wants American Woolen to merge with it, and claims to own almost 4% of American Woolen's stock, plans to fight the merger," see TIME CLOCK - TIME”

The merger of American Woolen and Bachman Uxbridge was however blocked by Textron, which emerged in the 1960s as a Providence, RI based conglomerate. This was Bachman Uxbridge’s last bid to be the largest woolen company in America. By 1964 the assets of Bachman Uxbridge were sold to Bernat Yarn of Jamaica Plain, MA

American Civil War uniforms, World War I Khaki overcoats, and World War II U.S. Army uniforms have all been manufactured in this mill. Latch hook yarn kits were developed by Bernat, here circa 1968 and the name of the mill changes to the Bernat Mill, then the third largest U.S. yarn mill.