Notes:
For well over 100 years, Willimantic, Connecticut was known worldwide as the Thread City. In 1854 the Willimantic Linen Company started manufacturing high quality three and six cord cotton thread. This was around the same time as the domestic sewing machine was gaining popularity.
The Willimantic Linen Company imported a special raw cotton from the Indian Ocean Islands, known for its natural lubricants and tensile strength -- it didn't snap or become knotted in the sewing machine.
The Willimantic cotton mills were fitted with hundreds of humidifiers to ingeniously recreate the damp atmospheric cotton spinning conditions found in the valleys and dales of Yorkshire and Lancashire. The drier New England air had not been condusive to the efficient spinning of cotton thread. But now America no longer had to import cotton thread from England -- a trade then dominated by Britain's Coats Cotton Company. The Singer Sewing Machine and Willimantic cotton thread made the perfect partnership.
Thread City boomed. Within two generations, Willimantic grew from a village into a thriving industrial borough. In 1893 Willimantic, a name derived from the Pequot Indian term for "land of the swift running waters," gained city status. And thanks to its central location, Thread City also became the hub of New England's nineteenth century railroad network. Manufactory of the Willimantic Linen Company Reproduced (left) is an 1867 woodcut of the Willimantic Linen Company's mammoth Mill Number Two, built in 1864. This mill is now the centerpiece of a multi-million dollar project to attract new industries and tourism to this beautiful area, known as the Northeast's Last Green Valley.
A brief history: Willimantic is located in the town of Windham. It is named for Wymondham in Norfolk, England, and was founded in 1692. The town was originally settled by John Cates, a Puritan soldier fleeing from the wrath of the Royalists following the restoration of the English monarchy after Oliver Cromwell's death.
Windham rapidly developed as the economic and political center of Northeast Connecticut in the 18th century. The village of Windham Center, almost preserved in aspic, still reflects much colonial charm. However, Windham fell into a brief decline when the county seat was moved to Brooklyn in the early 19th century -- but an instant revival was just around the corner. A number of Rhode island industrialists arrived in the southeast corner of Windham in the early 1820s, drawn by the natural
water power sources provided by the Willimantic River. Thread City was on its way.  City/Town : Latitude: 41.7116667, Longitude: -72.2119444
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Willimantic, Windham
