Farr Alpaca Company Records

The Farr Alpaca Company began as a small mill in Hespeler, Ontario, Canada at the end of the 1860s. The Randall Farr Co. was founded by Herbert M. Farr and his two uncles from New Hampshire and produced knit goods, and later, alpaca worsteds. To offset the high tariffs on finished fabrics, the company decided to move operations to the United States. Herbert Farr approached different communities and offered to raise 2/3 of the capital necessary to start a mill if local business leaders raised the remaining 1/3. He found the support he needed from the leading citizens of Holyoke, Mass. The Farr Alpaca Company was incorporated on November 13, 1873 by Herbert Farr along with Jared Beebe, Joseph C. Parsons, Andrew Allyn, Joseph Metcalf, George Randall and Timothy Merrick. The mill was fully operational by the spring of 1874 (Hutner, p.11).

The partnership between the mill and the community proved to be a profitable one. By moving the company to the United States, Farr Alpaca saved 60% on duties for finished fabrics enabling them to sell their products at a lower cost than imported goods. Early on, the company became recognized for producing high quality goods. It received an award at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia for its exhibit of black alpacas, mohair, cashmeres and serge.

As demand for black alpaca and cotton-warp worsted dress goods diminished through the mid-to-late 1870s and the early 1880s, the company began to produce a line of softer all-wool worsted dress goods, and production of alpaca coat linings for men’s suits and overcoats (which contained a warp of cotton and a weft of alpaca or mohair blended with combing wool) was increased. By the 1890s, linings were the company’s main product and were sold to the ready-made men’s clothing industry. Farr was soon considered by the trade to have a monopoly on the manufacture of alpaca and mohair linings, providing 70% of the total production of linings to the cutting-up trade until the 1920s (Hutner, p. 23). The company did well despite the numerous depressions throughout the late nineteenth century. Sales were first managed by C.H. and F.D. Blake and Co. and then by Coffin Altemus and Company with T.B. Martin, the sales representative, handling the account. When Coffin Altemus was liquidated in 1896, Thomas B. Martin and Henry C. Martin took over the Farr account as selling agents.

By the turn of the century, Farr Alpaca employed 4,000 people and was considered to be one of the largest integrated mills in the country with the largest payroll in the city of Holyoke. The company continued to improve and expand becoming a fully integrated mill with the construction of a cotton yarn mill after World War I (WWI). Factors contributing to their continued success included: shrewd financial management, effective use of technological advances and progressive employee relations. Financially, the company leaders managed to build reservoirs of capital to get them through down-times in the economy. Agent Herbert Farr diligently kept up with the latest advances in technology by purchasing new equipment and in one instance designed his own finishing equipment (Hutner, p. 32).

Farr Alpaca’s progressive views on employee management resulted in a low turnover rate and good relations with their employees. Management installed good lighting, ventilating systems and even air-conditioning in one of its weave sheds (Hutner, p. 62). The company paid a higher hourly rate than other textile companies and they also instituted an Employee Relief Fund (1879-1936) to aid the sick and disabled. In addition two factory hospitals staffed by a doctor, two nurses and a dentist were established in 1920.

During World War I, the mill provided space for their employees to own and manage a cooperative grocery store that remained in business until 1926. Most notably, in 1914, Farr Alpaca implemented a wage dividend scheme at a time when few cases of profit sharing could be found in the textile industry. This program lasted eighteen years.

Instances of dissatisfaction and strikes among the Farr Alpaca employees were rare. Organized local labor unions did not appear to have a strong influence within the company until the 1930s. In April 1936, employees belonging to the weaver and cotton thread workers unions struck over increased workloads. To end the strike, the company signed agreements with the two unions. “These were also the first written trade [union] agreements in the history of the Holyoke textile industry.” (Hutner, p.71)

The first serious challenge to Farr’s monopoly was the use of partial linings for suitings and overcoats by the ready-made industry just before WWI. These partial or skeleton linings reduced the amount of fabric used and allowed for the use of silk or satin instead of mohair (Hutner, p.38) This threat was temporarily circumvented by the production of uniform and airplane cloth during WWI. By the 1920s the second threat to Farr, in addition to the general depression of the period, was the greater use of lighter fabrics, especially rayon, not only in women’s wear but as a lining fabric. Because the switch to use of partial linings and rayon was a gradual process, management was slow to respond to both threats, which ultimately contributed to the decline and failure of the company. Although Farr eventually experimented with rayon, its Board of Directors did not have faith in this new product and the company’s merchandising efforts were half-hearted. By 1928 rayon was widely used and over time proved to be a product of enduring longevity. In the midst of the depression, the company, realizing its miscalculation, desperately tried to reorganize and diversify. However, no commercial banks would provide loans until outstanding debts were paid. Farr approached both the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation for loans, but a minority of stockholders who favored liquidation controlled enough shares to block any further bailout, and the company was subsequently liquidated in 1938/39.

The Farr Alpaca Corporation played a significant role in the local community of Holyoke and within the textile industry. These papers document the life of a successful textile company that had a vested interest in its employees as much as in its products. They also record the gradual decline of a company that failed to respond to changing markets.

Two men dominated Farr Alpaca: Herbert M. Farr who was Agent from 1875 until his death in 1901 and his brother-in-law, Joseph Metcalf, who was Treasurer from 1875-1916 and Agent from 1901-1916. Second and third generation managers included Frank Metcalf, Joseph’s son, who was Asst. Agent (1904-1906), Asst. Treasurer (1906-1917), Treasurer (1917-1936) and President (1917-1938); Addison L. Green who was Asst. Treasurer (1917-1935), legal advisor (1922-1939) and Chairman of the Board (1924-1938); Joseph Metcalf II, Superintendent of the finishing department and later Manufacturing Manager and finally Agent; Donald R. Green, Superintendent of the cotton mill and then Sales Manager, Asst. Treasurer, and then Treasurer. In 1936, William Van D. Jewett was appointed as General Manager (Hutner, p.107).

Sources : Green, Constance McLaughlin. Holyoke Massachusetts: A Case History of the Industrial Revolution in America. New Haven: Yale U.P., 1939.

Hutner, Frances Cornwall. The Farr Alpaca Company: A Case Study in Business History. Northampton, MA: Smith College, 1951.

Stone, Orra L. History of Massachusetts Industries: Their Inception, Growth and Success. 2 vols. Boston: S.J. Clarke, 1930.