History - not repeated

Part of the Pepperell Mill in Biddeford, Maine last week - click to enlarge
Photo: Shawn Patrick Ouellette Maine Today Media

  There was a time, fifty years ago, when Pepperell bedding was the gold standard for sheets and pillow cases.  These were items carried by what were called the "better stores".  It was all gone in what was almost a flash as mill after mill in Maine closed in the 1950's.  I've written before by families displaced by the loss of work, thousands of workers were laid off, the work had gone south for tax-free land, cheap labor and to be closer to the raw material, cotton.  Now those jobs are gone to.  They now make bedding in India, Egypt, China and other places where labor is cheaper, and there are raw materials available, this time it was factory workers and farmers who lost out, not to forget the other business in towns that lost the mills.
  Maybe there'll be a comeback, some of the old building, like the on at the top, are housing new businesses, they're being converted into housing, retail space and new businesses are growing in those old mills.  Slowly, but surely they're coming back to life.

Making lightweight tents and camping gear from nylon in the old Pepperell mill now. - click to enlarge
Photo: Shawn Patrick Ouellette Maine Today Media