Tom b. Photography: January 2010

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Pt. 1 of 4

THE HISTORY: The Scranton Lace Curtain Manufacturing Company was established by the Scranton Board of Trade in 1890 and was incorporated on June 15, 1897. The name Scranton Lace Company became standardized in 1916 when the Scranton Lace Curtain Manufacturing Company and one of its subsidiaries combined their operations. On May 13, 1958, the company changed its name to The Scranton Lace Corporation, but soon thereafter reverted back to using the name The Scranton Lace Company as its official title. From 1916 to 2002 the company remained the first and largest known producer of Nottingham Lace in the United States. They produced tablecloths, napkins, valences, and shower curtains, among many other types of lace items. During the 1940s, the company teamed up with subsidiaries such as Victory Parachutes, Inc. and Sweeney Bros. to manufacture parahutes and camouflage netting. Though the company prospered well into the 1950s, risky investments involving Hal Roach Studios and the fledgling television industry placed the company in financial peril and eventually led to its closure in 2002.

Scranton Lace, world leader in making Nottingham lace, closes SCRANTON, Pa. (AP) Scranton Lace Co., once the world's largest producer of Nottingham lace and later a symbol of the region's dying textile industry, has stopped production. The 105-year-old company employed more than 1,400 people at its peak in the early 20th century and used an enormous, one-of-a-kind loom to create Nottingham lace, the city's highest-profile export. Robert Christy, of Scranton, a weaver at the plant, said company vice president Robert Hine called all employees together halfway through their shift Friday to break the news that Scranton Lace was closing, effective immediately. "People were shocked," Christy said. "Since I've been there, I heard rumors about closing, but you never think today will be the day." The company cut employment to 150 last year, and most recently to about 50. Wages ranged from about $7 to $13 an hour. At one time, Scranton Lace had bowling alleys in the basement, a fully staffed infirmary, a staff barber and a gymnasium, and owned its own cotton field and coal mine. Its clock tower was a city landmark. U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's father and grandfather worked there. Before World War II, the laceworks was one of 10 mills in Pennsylvania that together produced more than half of all lace goods in the United States. Like most industries, Scranton Lace joined the war effort, producing mosquito and camouflage netting, bomb parachutes and tarpaulins. After World War II, the company returned to making cotton yarn, vinyl shower curtains and textile laminates used for umbrellas, patio furniture and pool liners. But it was best known for its Nottingham lace, named for the city in England where the loom for manufacturing lace was developed in the mid-1800s. According to the Scranton Lace Web site, the company's century-old imported looms were the largest Nottingham looms ever created, each weighing more than 20 tons.