The nine-month strike that split Willimantic, Connecticut for 50 years

The Nine-Month Strike That Destroyed Willimantic’s Unity

The American Thread Company mill in Willimantic once hummed with 2,500 workers. Then came the cuts – 22.5% in 1920, 12. 5% in 1923, and another 10% in 1925.

Workers got mad. On March 5, 1925, they packed the Gem Theater and voted to strike.

The company hit back hard. They hired 1,700 new workers, mostly French Canadians who needed jobs.

State police stood guard while strikers lost their homes. By fall, the union was dead, and the town split in two.

The Mill Museum in Connecticut’s Last Green Valley now tells this story of a community torn apart by one bitter fight.

War Boosted Wages by 160% at American Thread

Money flowed freely at American Thread Company from 1916-1919.

The company raised worker pay by 160% as they rushed to meet huge textile demands during World War I. Bosses needed more workers to fill European orders for American-made cloth and thread.

At its busiest, the Willimantic plant gave jobs to about 2,500 workers. The good times made workers think their new wealth might last forever.

They had no idea what would happen after the war ended.

Paychecks Shrank Three Times After War’s End

The good times stopped suddenly when textile demand crashed after the war. American Thread cut wages by 22.5% in 1920 as the after-war slump hit hard.

Workers barely got back on their feet before a second cut of 12.5% came in 1923 while the textile market kept getting worse. Most workers got paid for each item they made rather than by the hour.

This meant they had to work faster just to earn the same money they once made at a normal pace.

Workers Pushed to Breaking Point in 1925

American Thread dropped another 10% wage cut on January 12, 1925. This pushed tired workers too far.

The speed-up system forced them to work harder while taking home less money. Between 1920-1925, output jumped 21% as workers tried to keep their shrinking paychecks.

Accidents went up as tired workers pushed themselves to risky limits just to feed their families.

Company Refused to Budge on Pay Cuts

United Textile Workers of America tried talking to plant manager Don H. Curtis in February 1925.

They hit a wall when Curtis flatly refused to take back the recent pay cut. He gave the union no room to find middle ground.

Union leaders quickly saw the company had no plans to talk fairly. As talks broke down, workers knew a strike looked like their only choice to stop the endless cuts.

Gem Theater Meeting Launched the Walkout

Workers filled Willimantic’s Gem Theater on March 5, 1925, and voted together to strike. By March 9, about 1,800 of the plant’s 2,500 workers walked off the job.

The unity was amazing since the workforce included people from many different immigrant backgrounds. Plant manager Curtis had to shut down the entire mill on March 11 as work stopped.

Bosses Plotted a Massive Strike-Breaking Plan

Superintendent David Moxon got the job of crushing the strike by any means needed. By early June, the company set up hiring offices in five New England cities.

Moxon spent the summer traveling between Lowell, Manchester, Boston, Fall River, and Providence. American Thread went after laid-off textile workers in other cities who needed jobs badly enough to cross picket lines.

The company’s plan was cold and harsh.

French Canadian Families Recruited to Replace Strikers

Ads showed up in English and French newspapers, trying to bring in French Canadian immigrants willing to take the strikers’ jobs.

The company carefully checked applicants, looking for both job skills and “character,” which meant workers who wouldn’t cause trouble.

They liked hiring whole families, knowing they’d be harder to lose than single workers who could leave anytime. By late July, about 1,700 replacement workers had signed with American Thread.

Strikers Lost Their Homes as Replacements Moved In

The company kicked striking workers out of company-owned housing to make room for the new workers. American Thread also pushed private landlords to create openings for incoming replacement families.

Connecticut State Police came in force to guard the plant during the tense standoff.

The community started splitting into two groups, those who backed the strikers and those who welcomed the replacement workers and their much-needed spending.

Mill Reopened with New Workers Getting Better Pay

The plant started up again on May 11, 1925, fully staffed with replacement workers. In a mean twist, these new workers got higher wages than the original strikers had earned before the cuts.

Most came from textile towns like Lowell, Massachusetts, and Manchester, New Hampshire, where mills had closed.

State police kept watch around the clock to protect the replacement workers from angry strikers who watched strangers take their jobs.

Nine-Month Strike Ended in Defeat

By September, the union lay in ruins after nine hard months of struggle. Most original strikers either left Willimantic or found whatever work they could elsewhere.

Those who stayed got blacklisted from their former jobs at the mill. American Thread had shown other companies how to crush unions by replacing an entire workforce.

The win came at a high cost for the community.

Town Divided Between "Strikers" and "Scabs" for Generations

Willimantic remained split for decades between original families and replacement families. Kids grew up knowing exactly which side their parents had been on during the bitter 1925 strike.

The conflict marked the beginning of the end for Connecticut’s once-mighty textile industry.

The deep division between “strikers” and “scabs” passed down through multiple generations, creating wounds that took decades to heal in this small New England mill town.

Visiting Last Green Valley National Heritage Corridor, Connecticut

You can learn about the 1925 American Thread Company Strike at the Windham Textile and History Museum at 411 Main Street in Willimantic.

The museum is in the original 1877 company headquarters building where the nine-month strike happened. It’s open weekends from 10am to 4pm with $10 admission for adults and $7 for seniors and students.

You’ll see recreated mill worker housing and manager offices from when 2,200 workers fought wage cuts.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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