Whitin Machine Works (Whitinsville, Mass.)

Contains documents prepared for Whitin by Booz, Allen & Hamilton, management consultants, including a survey of accounting operations and the data processing system, 1960; a recap of organization recommendations, 1960; a preliminary survey of Zurn Industries, Inc., as an acquisition candidate, 1962; and a review of the sales and profit outlook for J.D. Ferry Co. and American Type Founders, 1963; both companies were Whitin Machine Works acquisitions. Also contains a report, 1963, by Whitin on recommended arrangements of various facilities, including Whitinsville-Charlotte, Foster Machine and Fayscott Corp., for profit improvement; a document on production control procedure and stock status, 1960; and an analysis of the "Product Planning and Development Report, 1948-1963," prepared by E. Kent Swift, Jr., 1963.

Engaged in the manufacture of textile machinery, chiefly the so-called preparatory machinery that converts raw cotton into yarn. The company, founded by John C. Whitin, built its first machine in 1831 in a facility located on the Mumford River in Whitinsville, the principal village in the Town of Northbridge, Mass. It was incorporated in 1868 and remained under the ownership of the Whitin family through the years of World War II, during which time its operations were converted to the manufacture of military supplies, reverting to textile machinery afterwards. At its peak, the company employed as many as 5000 workers. Following the war, the company began shifting operations to North Carolina and also passing outside control of the Whitin family. During the 1950s Whitin Machine Works began selling the company housing and transferring some of its institutions, such as the fire department and the gym, to the Town of Northbridge, and by ca. 1980 all of its operations had moved south. The buildings in Whitinsville remain and now house a number of small businesses and manufactures.

P. Whitin & Sons founded in 1831 by John C. Whitin, inventor of textile picking machinery and son of blacksmith and machine shop owner Paul Whitin; name later changed to Whitin Machine Works; manufacturer of textile industry machinery; also made airplane parts during World War II; company known as "The Shop."

In 1809 Paul Whitin, in partnership with James Fletcher and others, turned his scythe & hoe manufactory in Whitinsville, Mass. into a cotton mill. In 1826 he purchased the interest of his partners and went into business with his sons, Paul Whitin, Jr. & John C. Whitin under the name of Paul Whitin & Sons. Attached to the mill was a machine shop where John C. Whitin began experiments in the construction of improved machines for use in cotton manufacture beginning with the cotton picker, then improved machines for the entire equipment of a cotton factory except mules. From 1860-1863, the company also operated the Holyoke Machine Shop in Holyoke, Mass. Paul Whitin & Sons dissolved and re-organized in 1864; John C. Whitin received the machine shop. Its name was later changed to Whitin Machine Works; it incorporated in 1870.