American Printing Company (Fall River Iron Works) - Decline

Decline

The cotton mills of Fall River had built their business largely on only one product: print cloth. About 1910, the city's largest employer, the American Printing Company (APC) employed 6,000 people, and was the largest printer of cotton cloth in the world. Dozens of other city mills solely produced print cloth to be printed at the APC. The city's industry truly had all its eggs in one, very large basket.

By 1910 or so, the Northern mills also faced serious competition from their Southern counterparts due to factors such as lower labor and transportation costs, as well as the South's large investment in new machinery and other equipment. Many northern mills added additional capacity, in a futile attempt to maintain their advantage over the South.

World War I had provided a much needed boost in demand for textiles, and most of the mills in New England benefited during this time. The post-war economy quickly slowed however and production quickly outpaced demand. The price for print cloth dropped sharply. In 1923, Fall River faced the first wave of mill closures.

In 1924, following the example of some other large northern mills, the American Printing Company built a new plant at Kingsport, Tennessee, and began moving much of its production there. Thousands of Fall River jobs were suddenly lost.

The once mighty American Printing Company finally closed its Fall River mills for good in 1934. In 1937, their huge factory complex on Water Street was acquired by the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, and soon employed 2,600 people. On October 11–12, 1941, just eight weeks before the attack on Pearl harbor, a huge fire broke out in the old 1860's mill of the print works. The fire was a major setback to the U.S. war effort, as Jesse H. Jones, Secretary of Commerce, reported that 15,850 tons (31,700,000 pounds (14,400,000 kg)) of rubber was lost in the blaze, valued at approximately $7,000,000.

In March 1973, another huge fire destroyed the former "Iron Works Division" mills. These mills were set to be occupied by the Providence Pile Company. However, the sprinklers had been turned off during the winter because there was no heat in the buildings.

Today, the site is occupied by Borden & Remington Chemical Company(a company with its roots in the 19th century textile industry). Several of the late 19th Century buildings still remain.

In October 2008, Borden & Remington began the demolition of Mill No. 3, which had been vacant and was deemed to be in poor condition. Mill No. 1 was demolished in May 2011.