MADE IN HAMILTON
20TH CENTURY
INDUSTRIAL TRAIL

SITE 22
GLENDALE SPINNING MILLS, 1916
GLENDALE SPINNING MILLS 1981 LTD.

Hamilton was not always just a "steel-town". For the first half of the century it was the country's third largest textile centre after Montreal and Toronto. The city was especially well known for its large knitting mills. One of these was the Chipman-Holton Knitting Company (1902), a major producer of hosiery. In 1916, the owners of Chipman-Holton founded the Glendale Spinning Mills to supply the parent company with carded cotton and hosiery yarns. Soon, Glendale was selling yarn to a number of other firms. This market allowed Glendale to continue its operations after the Chipman-Holton plant closed.

Textile mills were among the few places women could find work in the city. In the first part of the 20th century, female unionists from plants like this one drew the labour movement's attention to issues like maternity leave, free medical care during pregnancy and better health-care and schooling for children. By the late 1980s, the Glendale Spinning Mills had become the country's second largest spinning mill. Approximately 110 workers in this plant continue to produce yarn for the knitting trade.

Workers at this plant are organized as the Union of Needletrade, Industrial and Textile Employees, Local 1070.