Empire Cotton Mills
In September 1913, production began at Empire Cotton Mills in Welland, Ontario on ten acres of land between Hagar and Lincoln Streets, east of the Grand Trunk Railway. Empire Cotton produced yarn, bag cloth, toweling, ounce and numbered ducks and industrial sheeting. In 1914, Woods Manufacturing Company of St. Lambert, Quebec purchased Empire Cotton Mills. The name Empire Cotton Mills remained.
The establishment of Empire Cotton Mills in Welland introduced dual income families into the community. The textile mill had the largest concentration of female employees in Welland. Empire Cotton enhanced Welland's cultural heritage by encouraging French Canadians to work at the cotton mill. During WWI, the company encouraged workers from Quebec’s textile factory, Dominion Textile, to relocate to Welland. Twenty French families moved from Quebec in 1915 and, by 1919, two hundred and fifty French Canadians lived in Welland.
Like many factories in Welland at the time, employees lived in close proximity to the factories where they worked. This situation created a French neighborhood near the mill with French workers living mainly in company housing. The area from Burgar Street to Duncan Street, south of East Main Street became known as “Frenchtown.” French residents preserved their culture through the churches and several social organizations.
Empire Cotton offered its employees and their families recreational opportunities much like those enjoyed at Welland steel plants. Activities included billiards and bowling. There was also a cafeteria and a reading lounge. A baseball park was located nearby.
In June 1921 when Welland and other areas of Canada were experiencing economic difficulties, Empire Cotton Mills hired three hundred workers to keep up with increased orders. In 1924, Canadian tariffs permitted foreign cotton products to be dumped into Canada, decreasing productivity. This situation created a need to eliminate the night shift at the plant and put many employees out of work. The period during WWII returned prosperity to the mill. A ten-year modernization plan was instituted making Empire Cotton the most modernly equipped cotton plant in North America.