Lewis Batting Company/The Kendall Company

Lewis Batting Company/The Kendall Company. . , In 1863, Willard Lewis (1808-1892) established the Lewis Batting Company on this site, making carpet linings and cotton batting. Lewis built the first brick mill building in Walpole about 1863, and it still can be seen at 75 West Street. Lewis's home, now occupied by the Walpole Historical Society at 33 West Street, overlooks his mill site., After Willard Lewis died in 1892, the business went into decline; and most of the wooden mill buildings were destroyed by fire in 1899, though quickly rebuilt. A family member, George A. Plimpton, revived the business; in 1903, Plimpton's nephew, Henry Plimpton Kendall (1878-1959), was brought in to transform the business. With expansion, in 1924 Henry Kendell changed the name to the Kendall Company, which produced absorbent cotton and other hospital supplies under the Curity and Curad brands, among others. In the early 20th century, Kendall was one of the two major employers in Walpole, the other being the paper and roofing company of Bird and Son in East Walpole. In 1972, the Kendall Company was acquired by Colgate Palmolive, as a wholly owned subsidiary. Manufacturing ceased in the 1990s when Tyco Industries acquired certain of Kendall Company divisions and relocated them to Mansfield, Massachusetts. Most of the mill buildings that once covered an area from the rail line to West and Elm Streets were re-purposed for business space, or razed in order to construct apartments.