History threads — Binch lace expands to Greenwich in 1946
This is the latest in an occasional series of posts about the history of the garment industry in Warren, Washington, Saratoga and Essex counties.
H, and F. Binch of Glens Falls expanded to Greenwich in 1946, reviving a textile plant that had been dormant for several years.
“The new owners are already making some improvements in the property, in connection for its reopening Nov. 1, and have a long-range plan for expansion,” The Post-Star reported on Oct. 25, 1946.
Initially, workers at the Greenwich plant would do finishing work for products made at the company’s plant on Warren Street in Glens Falls, but eventually new machinery would be purchased to make new product lines.
In 1946, the company diversified in to knit fabrics.
About 25 people would be hired to work at the Greenwich plant, to start, with 100 employed once production reached full capacity.
The Glens Falls plant, operating on three round-the-clock shifts, made lace, nets, jersey fabrics and other textiles.
During World War II, the company made camouflage net and helmet net for the military.
The new Greenwich plant was the former Linen Underwear Co. plant that LeRoy Thompson Sr. and James Wallace established in 1903
The Greenwich mill had closed around 1943.
H. and F. Binch was one of six companies associated with Native Laces and Textiles.
Two brothers, Herbert and Francis Binch, founded a lace mill on Warren Street in Glens Falls in 1916.
The plant was sold to Native Laces, later Native Textiles, in 1942, according to a company history.
In December 2001, the company employed 205 people, between its Warren Street plant and a knitting plant on Carey Road, down from about 400 in the mid-1990s, I reported for The Post-Star, at the time.
The Warren Street plant, the last textile plant operating in Glens Falls. made fabric for athletic wear and lingerie when it closed in 2005.
The Carey Road knitting plant closed in 2006.
Click here to read the most recent previous post in this series.
