Nashua Manufacturing Co.

Nashua Manufacturing Co.. . , The Nashua Manufacturing Co., listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was important for the textile industry and early economic development of Nashua. In 1823, a charter was granted to Daniel Abbot, Moses Tyler, and Joseph Greeley to manufacture cotton, woolen, and iron goods. Their main products included cotton shirting, sheeting, and 122 types of cloth and by the 1880s, flannel cotton. The Yankee Mill Girls dominated the workforce until the late 1800s when French and Irish immigrants were hired under the same conditions for longer hours and less pay. After the New Hampshire Legislature passed a ten-hour law, the Nashua Manufacturing Co. presented a contract to its workers three days before its institution, threatening discharge to anyone unwilling to keep their 13-14 hour workday. Only one third signed it, forcing temporary closure of the mills. They shut down again in October 1915 when Polish and Lithuanian workers went on strike. On May 18, 1944, the company was honored with the Army-Navy E Award for its contributions during World War II. Textron, Inc. bought the company in 1945 and in 1948, closed the Nashua Mills to move south, leaving 3,500 workers jobless. The buildings reopened as the Residential Clocktower Place in 1991.