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Nova Scotia Textiles (Windsor Wear)

1/4/2013

36 Comments

 
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NS Textiles-Windsor Wear East face 2012
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Windsor Wear pump house interior 2012
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Windsor Wear-West Face 2012
Windsor is a small town in rural Nova Scotia, situated at the extreme eastern end of the Annapolis Valley. From the settlement by Empire Loyalists in the late 18th century, after the US War of Independence from Britain, until the 3rd quarter of the 19th century, shipbuilding, agriculture and shipping created its wealth, held in the hands of about half a dozen families. In 1897 the town burned down almost completely. It was rebuilt largely on the basis of the established wealth. Its population grew to about 4,000 where it still is today.

On the initiative of local investors, a Windsor architect, E. P. Butler, built a cotton processing plant in 1884 following a design called “Standard English Mill Construction”. It was designed for carding, spinning and weaving basic cotton fabrics. As these local investors knew nothing of cotton processing they recruited experienced people from England, both for management and for the actual operations.

In 1891, after some difficult economic years, the factory was sold to the Dominion Cotton Mills Company. Because of its location outside the town limits the factory escaped the big fire. The factory closed due to economic conditions from 1912 until 1916.

In 1916 the mill was bought by the Nova Scotia Underwear Company. In 1922 the company was reorganized, modernized and consolidated with a complete range of underwear for men, women and children. In the 1960s serious competition from Asia and other low wage countries began to influence the company. Initiatives were taken for diversification of the product line into high quality winter underwear and sweat wear.  Flame Resistant Safety Knit Garments were developed in the 1990s.

In 1977 the then Nova Scotia Textiles, Limited began producing specialized sports wear for Roots Canada. This mutually productive relationship lasted until 2003 when Roots could no longer compete in its markets without outsourcing its manufacturing to lower wage countries.  This left only a small unit of about 25 staff at the Windsor plant producing the fire resistant fabrics and products and it was closed finally in the Fall of 2005.

The Nova Scotia Textiles mill never employed more than 200 people. Hence in a town of 4,000 people it directly supported about 200 families or with a multiplier of 5 to 7 that would be about 25-30% of the population.

The building was sold to developers who proposed to change its purpose while retaining the unique architectural exterior and interior highlights. The upper floor would include luxury condominiums; the second floor high-end business offices and art gallery spaces. The ground floor would have a day market and specialty shops, restaurant as well as a microbrewery and pub.  (www.millisland.ca)

When I took the photography in November 2006 almost all of the machinery had been taken out of the building and a start had been made with the restoration and modifications. Fortunately the exterior was still in its old state while the typical spaces of a textile factory were still in place. A lot of old equipment was still lying around giving the impression of a past glory and a place in transition. I profited from the very low sunlight of a late November afternoon, which produced fine light inside as well as outside the building.

The Windsor Wear Mill (Mill Island) project was discontinued for financial reasons and the building and site are now in bad shape. The intended renovations required the removal of the heating plant and the chimney as well as some external tanks and buildings that were sitting at the foot of the chimney. Of all the small buildings and the heating plant/chimney only the pump house and some kind of general storage shed are left, standing somewhat forlorn by themselves, rotting away. I took some images of the pump house interior and was struck by the green shiny glazed tiles that are a kind of wainscoting. The heating plant left a huge spotty white scar and the drain piping running above the scar has become a roost for pigeons. The pump intake was connected to a large pond that stored water in case of fire. The pictures below show one of 2006 and the current one. There is no longer a reflection in the pond of the architecture of this Standard English Mill that dates from the 1884, or from a design point of view probably from the early 19th century.

I could not enter the building but could see through the windows of the ground floor that all the pillars had been sandblasted, a job that was started when I photographed the interior in 2006. I believe they are all solid maple. The building probably holds a few hundred of those pillars, as there are very few internal bearing walls in textile plants. The developers have made a great effort to put them in their original state. They also replaced all old windows with modern insulated ones. I saw that the ground floor was mostly empty except for a lonely “bolt car”. The mill is not unique in the province as there is a similar one in Yarmouth. Yet there remains a nobility and beauty in the architecture and interior spaces that echo the prosperity, pride and progress these factories symbolized for the people who worked there. It would be a crying shame if the Windsor Wear Mill would be left to fall apart.

I am including some interior pictures I made in 2006 when there was still quite a bit of old machinery.

http://nshistoricplaces.ca/news_and_events/documents/MillIslandpresentation.pdf

Dick Groot
January 2013

36 Comments
Roger Weir
3/18/2013 02:58:06 am

Britex, another company in the Valley used to ship goods to both Windsor Wear and Stanfields....Huge shipments of men´s underwear elastic.

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Hannah Minzloff link
3/18/2013 03:06:51 am

Roger you're quite right about that. Unfortunately Britex is now closed. Last year I managed to get a shot of yards and yards of elastic hanging from the ceiling which I'll post on the blog in a few minutes.

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Frank link
2/13/2014 04:13:48 am

Would you send me an email ?

Thanks for the beautiful photos.

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dick groot link
2/14/2014 03:18:36 am

here is an email

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Rick
2/24/2014 08:56:15 am

I used to live in Windsor and worked at the mill in the late '70's. Thanks for the info.

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Dick Groot link
2/28/2014 08:24:08 pm

Rick, what kind of work did you do and what was it like to work there, Dick Groot colleague of Hannah Minzloff

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Rick
3/1/2014 11:27:10 am

Dick when I was a teenager I work on the third floor in distribution. Fill cardboard boxes with t-shirts, gym-wear etc.for shipping. But when I was 12-14, my friend's uncle used to be the night watchman at the mill. We used to go and walk around on each for at night. It could be pretty scary at that age. Loved the old building and the noises it made.

Rick
3/1/2014 11:32:00 am

From 81-83 it filled boxes with orders for shipping. From 77-79 my friends uncle was night watchman and we used to walk around the building at night. It could be pretty scary from the ages from 12-14. Still love the old building and its history.

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Steve Vernon link
4/24/2014 02:10:17 am

It is a sad day in the Vernon household.

My heart is heavy and I am torn with grief.

I can't tell you just how bad I feel.

Almost fifteen years ago I bought a heavy white long sleeve undershirt because I was working on the waterfront as a busker and the wind was blowing wet and cold and heavy.

It was a Windsor Wear undershirt - one of the toughest and finest pieces of apparel I ever bought. The shirt wore like iron and I loved to wear it while I was kicking around the house, doing chores or just plain writing.

Well folks, that shirt just tore today - way past mending - and the factory that made those shirts is long since closed - and I don't care how much of an old fart this makes me sound but they REALLY, REALLY, REALLY don't make them like this anymore.

Goodbye, good shirt.

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Laura Paige
2/23/2015 10:57:49 pm

my friend and I are doing a project on this building and would like to know more info, please! thank you

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Dick Groot link
2/28/2015 07:43:04 pm

Laura, what I know is in the blog but you may want to get in touch with Edward MacDonald the last owner of the mill. He lives in Windsor but I don't have an address.

Laura Paige
3/2/2015 10:00:49 pm

Okay, thank you so much! Do you know any way we could get in touch with Edward?

Dick Groot link
3/3/2015 03:20:02 pm

How about trying the phone book or Canada 411 ?

Laura Paige
3/6/2015 05:00:10 am

thank you for your help!

Same Rick
3/1/2014 11:35:35 am

Sorry and problem posting first reply.

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Hydroxycut link
4/24/2014 09:52:17 pm

Its very good and very excellent article. i really enjoyed this post and i hope you will keep posting this kinds of post in future.

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SlimQuick link
4/24/2014 09:52:49 pm

Another great post, I appreciate all the work you put into this site, helping out others with your fun and creative works.

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partytent huren zwolle link
7/7/2014 06:06:41 am

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Joanne
8/26/2015 09:05:35 pm

I worked there for 30 years. I was one of the last workers the day it closed for good. A lot of hard, hot work but we had fun too. A very sad ending to a family business.

A lot of my family worked there, my mother worked there for 54 years.

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Dick Groot link
9/8/2015 05:23:21 am

Hello Joanne, thank you for your note. I have just completed a project on the closing of the Minas Basin Paper Board Mill in Hantsport. Very similar sad story as the Windsor Wear one. People working there for generations. But your mother working at the Windsor mill working there for 54 years beats all records. Best, Dick.

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Rebecca
1/29/2016 11:39:36 pm

Those photos remind me of the horror film Session 9 - the Windsor mill would make a great scenario for a horror film with its old gothic design and gaping arched windows. The National Film Board of Canada should do a film in there and hire Nova Scotians to work on it. I don't know if I like the idea of "luxury condos" in there, condos are taking over the province especially in Halifax. If I were the developers, I'd try to request that the building be preserved as a heritage site that tourists could come and visit (and pay to keep the building maintained) and it could generate some money into the town of Windsor, too.

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Dick Groot link
3/6/2016 01:19:51 pm

Rebecca yes thank you for that note. I am sure that the owners who wanted to develop the building have thought of many ways to re-purpose it. But the recession in 2008 killed their projects and since then no one has come up with other plans. It all takes money and creativity and money is very hard to get . Even if it were a heritage site, the owners have to maintain it. And would be very limited in doing creative things with the building.

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Rebecca
3/7/2016 07:21:42 pm

Dick Groot - true, and since Canada's economy is steadily declining lately (I think the US dollar is now worth twice as much as the Canadian one! :( ) I doubt that the old mill is on top of everyone's priority list. It is a great part of NS history though, so I'm glad there's still photography of the place and that it's presently still standing. :)

Joanne
1/30/2016 04:17:52 am

Rebecca, there are plenty of ghosts in the building:-) I used to work alone there at night, just me and the watchman. Over the years all of my family worked there. My father was watchman when I was a teenager and I would do the rounds with him. I was never afraid of the "spirits" there, they were all former workers and former neighbors. Most of the people who worked at there lived on Nesbitt Street. In fact they gave me comfort knowing they were watching over me. Oh, the stories I could tell, LOL

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Dick Groot link
3/6/2016 01:22:16 pm

Joanne, I would be very interested having a further conversation with you about your experiences with that mill. Could we meet and have a coffee at TAN's in Windsor for a half hour or so?

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Dick Groot
3/6/2016 01:28:56 pm

Yes, I could meet with you but it has to be sometime in the morning hours and March break week is not good for me.

dick groot link
3/8/2016 10:21:16 am

Very good, I'll be away for about 3 weeks and when I get back will be in touch with you. Best, Dick

Rebecca
3/7/2016 07:18:06 pm

Joanne - I think there's definitely a presence there, and I can see how anyone who's ever been inside would have nostalgia after walking the corridors and seeing the echoes of the past. :)

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Derek Collins
11/9/2019 03:30:55 pm

My grandmother Murial Collins worked there,and also my grandfather Con Collins as a night watchman.I remember him going on his rounds as dad and I waited in the boiler room for him to come back.

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Charlie
3/6/2016 07:28:46 am

Man this place is fun, except for the 3rd floor. I tried to catch a pigeon up there and nearly went through the floor.

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Sheila Mackintosh-Ross
8/31/2017 02:11:16 pm

Sadly no mention of the Mackintosh family and founders of the company.

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Terra Spencer
10/25/2017 05:39:41 am

I really appreciate this post and all the comments. I walked past the mill today, and was once again struck by its ghostly presence here in the town. There just might be a song in there, we'll see...

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Dick Groot link
10/25/2017 06:45:18 am

Thanks for your comments Terra. I have photographed this mill in 2007 and 2012 to show how rapidly the decline sets in. But now it looks horrible with so many windows broken and a tree growing in the roof gutter. It is an iconic Standard English Mill architecture and there are only about two others left in the province, also going to seed. I am building an exhibition of photographs of 4 such mills in the Valley including Britex, Minas Basin Paper Board in Hantsport, Windsor Wear and the Gypsum processors in Windsor. It will open in April at the Cedar Centre in Windsor.

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Terra Spencer
11/6/2017 08:02:08 am

I look forward to your exhibition! I live handy to the Cedar Centre, a wonderful space. And I did write the song the day I wrote that post :) Do you have any info about who I would contact to gain access to the building for a little video?

Dave
1/3/2019 09:35:21 pm

Vandalism at the old mill is troublesome. I assume it is caused by local young people and worry as to what they will assume they can get away with as they grow older.

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Adrian Lawson link
12/24/2020 12:22:25 pm

Greaat reading

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    Hannah Minzloff and Dick Groot

    As photo-based artists, we are visualizing the physical transformations of the land and its use and looking at the future of the Annapolis Valley through innovative initiatives in sustainable food production, transportation, energy, community and youth engagement.

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