Rockford Mitten and Hosiery Company Records

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: RHC-RC-038

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Rockford Mitten and Hosiery Company records trace the corporate activities of a textile manufacturer from 1881 to its dissolution in 1957. The minute books (1881-1957) detail company policies, organizational changes, and financial conditions. An examination and analysis of the company’s financial statements and its relationship to subsidiary corporations are documented in the audit and annual reports (1918-1955). Additional financial information is available in the general ledgers (1935-1956), profit/loss reports (1926-1954), and the income tax returns (1913-1955). Only the subsidiary Beloit Hosiery Company is represented in the collection in company minutes (1936-1955). Finally, the corporate charter, amendments, by-laws, and stockholders certificates and records supply supplementary historical evidence. A comprehensive collection, the Rockford Mitten and hosiery Company records provide excellent source material for research in corporate business development and the evolution of the textile industry during the first half of the twentieth-century.

Dates

created: 1881-1957
Other: Date acquired: 10/16/1978

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on access to the collection.

Conditions Governing Use

Property rights in the collections are held by the Regional History Center; literary rights are dedicated to the public.

Biographical or Historical Information

The Rockford Mitten Company, founded by Thour Munthe John Nelson, and William Talcott, began operations in 1879 and incorporated on November 29, 1881 under the laws of the state of Illinois for the purpose of manufacturing mittens and gloves. During the early years of its existence the company principally manufactured leather gloves either lined with material knitted on the same machine used for knitting stockings or unlined. The St. Charles Woolen Mills of St. Charles, Missouri, William Ziock, president, supplied most of the yarn used at that time. Because of his long and successful career in the knitting business, the company invited Mr. Ziock to consolidate the St. Charles Woolen Mills with the Rockford Mitten Company. Mr. Ziock agreed to the proposed merger, took the assets of his store into the new organization, and in 1885 consolidation took place; the new company became the Rockford Mitten and Hosiery Company. Almost immediately, leather glove manufacturing discontinued and the manufacture of hosiery became the primary business venture. The company introduced yarn, stockings, blankets woolen piece goods to its line as business expanded On October 28, 1918, the company changed it name to the Rockford Textile Mills, Inc. In addition to the Rockford business, the company owned 100% of the capital stock in three subsidiary companies: Beloit Hosiery Company, Inc., Seneca Falls, New York; Tenn-Rock Hosiery Company, McMinnville, Tennessee; and Manchester Mills, Inc., Manchester, Tennessee. Labor and management problems forced the Rockford Textile Mills to liquidate operations in 1954. Finally, on March 4, 1957, the company voluntarily decided to dissolve the corporation and distribute its assets to the stockholders in accordance with recommendations from the Board of Directors.

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