Mills Mansions and Mergers

Biography of William Madison Wood, one of the central figures in the industrial history of the Merrimack Valley (Massachusetts). Wood (1858-1926) was a textile mill owner of who was considered to be an expert in efficiency. He set out to merge some of the small, struggling mills of New England into one mammoth. By 1899, William Wood had convinced seven such mills to join what he called "The Woolen Trust." In April of that same year the company was incorporated under a new name, The American Woolen Company.