Botany Mills

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Botany Worsted Mills (center) in a 1997 photo. The mills are part of the Dundee Canal Industrial Historic District. Botany Worsted Mills-Passaic NJ 1997.jpg
Botany Worsted Mills (center) in a 1997 photo. The mills are part of the Dundee Canal Industrial Historic District.

Botany Mills was a Passaic, New Jersey based manufacturer of textiles, [1] which was organized in 1887. [2] It merged with Continental Textile Co., Ltd., in January 1927. Botany Mills continued to have a controlling interest in both Botany Worsted Mills and Garfield Worsted Mills. [1] The company was a key target of the 1926 Passaic Textile Strike, which lasted almost a year. The business is significant for having survived the Great Depression while continuing to be a leader in its field in the decades afterward.

Passaic, New Jersey City in New Jersey, United States

Passaic is a city in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 69,781, maintaining its status as the 15th largest municipality in New Jersey with an increase of 1,920 residents (+2.8%) from the 2000 Census population of 67,861, which had in turn increased by 9,820 (+16.9%) from the 58,041 counted in the 1990 Census. Passaic is the tenth most densely populated municipality in the entire United States with 22,000+ people per square mile.

Great Depression 20th-century worldwide economic depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, beginning in the United States. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations; in most countries it started in 1929 and lasted until the late-1930s. It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how intensely the world's economy can decline.

Corporation history

Botany Mills' stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange reached a low for 1929 in late September, a month prior to the 1929 Stock Market Crash. [3] The company's net loss of $2,768,904 for 1929, exceeded the 1928 deficit which totaled $1,461,783. [4]

New York Stock Exchange American stock exchange

The New York Stock Exchange is an American stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street, Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at US$30.1 trillion as of February 2018. The average daily trading value was approximately US$169 billion in 2013. The NYSE trading floor is located at 11 Wall Street and is composed of 21 rooms used for the facilitation of trading. A fifth trading room, located at 30 Broad Street, was closed in February 2007. The main building and the 11 Wall Street building were designated National Historic Landmarks in 1978.

In June 1932 Botany Mills formed an independent bondholders protective committee which called for immediate deposits of bonds. The firm had descended into receivership after defaulting on the payment of interest on its bonds on April 1, 1932. [5] The Empire Trust Company served as depositary for the committee. [6]

In October 1948 Botany Mills announced that it would absorb higher raw material and labor costs without raising prices on goods. They maintained prices on wool shirts and pants as well as on their swimming trunk line. However their gabardine boxer shorts increased in price from $6.95 to $7.50 retail. [7]

Gabardine tough, twill-woven cloth, originally of fine worsted yarn, now also of synthetics

Gabardine is a tough, tightly woven fabric used to make suits, overcoats, trousers, uniforms, windbreakers and other garments.

In August 1954, Daroff and Sons, a Philadelphia clothing manufacturer which had produced worsteds for Botany under contract for several years, purchased a controlling interest in Botany Mills. [8]

Philadelphia Largest city in Pennsylvania, United States

Philadelphia, sometimes known colloquially as Philly, is the largest city in the U.S. state and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the sixth-most populous U.S. city, with a 2017 census-estimated population of 1,580,863. Since 1854, the city has been coterminous with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the eighth-largest U.S. metropolitan statistical area, with over 6 million residents as of 2017. Philadelphia is also the economic and cultural anchor of the greater Delaware Valley, located along the lower Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, within the Northeast megalopolis. The Delaware Valley's population of 7.2 million ranks it as the eighth-largest combined statistical area in the United States.

In late 1955, Botany left the textile business and transferred its Passaic plant to an affiliate company, Clarence Worsted. Botany transitioned into real estate, product licensing and cosmetics. [9]

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References

  1. 1 2 "Form New Textile Company". Wall Street Journal. 1927-01-04. p. 12.
  2. Obituary Notes, The New York Times , February 21, 1912, pg. 11.
  3. "Broad Street Gossi". Wall Street Journal. 1929-09-28. p. 2.
  4. "Botany Mills Has Net Loss of $2,768,904". Wall Street Journal. 1930-04-07. p. 7.
  5. "Receivers Named for Botany Mills" (PDF). The New York Times. 1932-03-29.
  6. "Botany Mills Group". Wall Street Journal. 1932-06-23. p. 8.
  7. "Botany Mills to Absorb Cost Rise, Hold Spring Slacks, Shirt Prices". Wall Street Journal. 1948-10-26. p. 11.
  8. "Control of Botany Mills is Bought by Daroff & Sons, Clothing Maker" (PDF). The New York Times. 1954-08-04.
  9. "Botany Quits Textiles" (PDF). The New York Times. 1955-12-31.