In 1953, the Guerin Mills, the area’s largest textile employer at the time, reached an empasse with its unionized workforce. Guerin announced the impending shutdown of all Woonsocket operations unless its workers accepted a reduction in pay exceeding 25%. The workers, most of whom were members of the ITU, responded with a strike that shut down all production. Management made good on its pledge, and left Woonsocket. The mills closed on June, 8, 1954.
The Rosemont, Alsace and Montrose mills were sold at public auction for $335,000. The Woonsocket Association of Manufacturers used the occasion of the Guerin Mill crisis to issue a somber warning: "The inability to meet competition is creating a gradual shrinkage of operations and a decline in employment and payrolls. Unless remedies can be found, the continuation of existing conditions must sooner or later result in further closings of local plants."
Over the course of the next sixty years, the complex of mills on East School Street became host to a number of businesses.
Image courtesy of the Woonsocket Historical Society
