By Gillian Graham

Staff Writer

In 1831, textile pioneer Samuel Batchelder stood by the banks of the Saco River, watching as water thundered over the falls with great power. Recognizing the potential of harnessing that power, he set out to build a cotton-manufacturing mill.

Within years, the clang and roar of machinery could be heard throughout downtown Biddeford and Saco as thousands of workers attended to machines behind brick factory walls, producing textiles to be shipped to all corners of the world. 

Now, 178 years after Batchelder arrived by stagecoach from Boston and began the industrialization of Biddeford, the city’s last textile manufacturing operation is set to close. WestPoint Home announced it will shut its doors next month, ending nearly two centuries of manufacturing tradition as developers work to revive and repurpose buildings in the city’s sprawling mill complex.

The histories of many families in the Biddeford-Saco area are closely tied to the mills. Thousands of people moved to the area in search of work, bringing with them languages, religions and traditions that contributed to thriving downtowns.

Author and historian Roy Fairfield began working in the Saco-Lowell Shops one week after graduating from Thornton Academy in 1936. Like most 18-year-olds, his options were limited to joining the Army or going to “Saco-Lowell Tech” – as many people called going to work in the mills, he said. 

During the six and half years he worked at Saco-Lowell, Fairfield worked his way up from a runner boy to a contract manager. As a runner, he walked two, five-mile trips each day through the shops, weaving his way past dangerous machinery powered by belts and pulleys. The shop, he said, was very noisy with machines slamming back and forth and movement overhead. 

When Fairfield worked at Saco-Lowell in the late 1930s and early 1940s, the mill employed about 4,000 people. Workers at Saco-Lowell, Pepperell and York mills totaled nearly 10,000. About half of the population of Biddeford and Saco was employed at the mills, Fairfield said.

“There’s no question about it, the mills were the economic engine that kept the cities [of Biddeford and Saco] alive,” he said. 

Like many twin city natives, Fairfield remembers how everything seemed to revolve around the mills. Throughout their early history, mills employed thousands of workers who moved from away – many from Quebec, others from Greece, Ireland, England and Scotland – searching for work. Franco migration began in the 1840s as families left struggling Canadian farms for the promise of steady mill jobs, Fairfield said. 

“I would say that’s the most important migration of people into the area,” he said. 

Fairfield said mills would schedule summer vacations so people from Quebec could go home to help family plant potatoes in July and harvest them in October. Biddeford, still known for its Franco-American heritage, became the new home of many who spoke French and attended Catholic churches. In Saco, the Greek community clustered together close to downtown and “Little Scotland” emerged with the arrival of expert Scottish loom fixers, he said. 

Despite an abundance of work, Fairfield said the relationship between various groups was at times contentious. Many were threatened by religions and languages associated with other ethnic groups, he said. 

“As a boy, on a Saturday night I could go walk down Main Street in Biddeford and hear mostly French,” Fairfield said.

Theresa Scammon, 83, of Saco, grew up in Biddeford, the daughter of Canadian immigrants. Her father, Louis Talbot, was born in Saskatchewan and moved to Biddeford to work in the mills. Her mother, Albertine, moved from Quebec at age 12 to work in the mills and later stayed home to raise her family of seven. 

Growing up on Granite Street near Clifford Park, Scammon attended Catholic school with the children of other mill employees. She said she remembers clearly how the busy downtown streets were often filled with music and chatter as friends greeted one another and enjoyed their free time. 

At 16, Scammon went to work in the card room at York Mill. The work conditions were hot and dangerous – she had to be careful not to get her arms caught in the machines – and she didn’t make much money. Scammon left the mill after a year to work at a meat store across Alfred Street from Throumoulos Market, a popular destination for mill workers buying tobacco and bread. 

When she looks at the Biddeford skyline today, Scammon is reminded of her father, who left the mills to work as a mason. He led the construction of a large brick chimney and often told people it would never come down. Scammon said her father was fond of telling people he buried his hat underneath the chimney.

Ted Truman, 80, grew up in Biddeford and has studied the history of the city’s mills. The son of an immigrant who ran several businesses, he spent his earliest years downtown as the city bustled with people going to and from work in the mills. 

Truman said it often seemed everyone around him spoke French. The large French-Canadian families didn’t have much money, but the children were always clean and nicely dressed, he said. They often lived in cheap apartments with extended family and spent as much time working as possible, he said. 

“They were proud people, they wanted to work,” he said. “They came to this country to work.”

Truman’s father, Peter Throumouloupoulos, moved to Biddeford from Istanbul, Turkey, and opened several businesses. He owned the Puritan, where teens would gather on Friday and Saturday nights to sip cherry Cokes and talk with friends. He later founded Throumoulos Market, which was open from 7 a.m. to midnight everyday to accommodate mill workers from every shift, Truman said.

Though he recalls working long hours in the shop selling ethnic foods, Truman’s fondest memories are of the busy city streets full of friendly people. He said it was a “delight” to be out on the town on Friday and Saturday nights, when everyone was out walking and stores stayed open late.

“They would promenade up Main Street. Everyone was friendly and seemed to know everyone,” he said. “It was quite a community. The mills were going full-blast. The mills were really the focus of this town. It was the center of York County and it was bustling.”

The mills hold a special place in the heart of Biddeford Mayor Joanne Twomey. Her grandmother, Georgiana Cote, moved to Biddeford from Canada, speaking only French and looking for work. She worked for York Manufacturing Co., earning low wages doing dangerous work.  Cote later helped organize the first union because she felt wages were unfair, Twomey said. 

Twomey, who held her inauguration in the renovated North Dam Mill, said her parents also made their living in the mills. Her father would bring the children to visit Pepperell Mill, and she still displays large bobbins in her city hall office. 

Though saddened by the closure of WestPoint Home, Twomey said it is important to focus on revitalizing mill buildings to honor the city’s heritage.

“The sweat and tears that went into those mills – that’s why I fight so hard today to redevelop them,” she said. “It is our past and it is our future.”

Staff Writer Gillian Graham can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 213.