Pendleton Woolen Mills
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| Private | |
| Industry | Textile |
| Founded | 1863 |
| Headquarters |
Portland, Oregon, United States |
| Products | Woolen blankets, garments |
| Website | www.pendleton-usa.com |
Pendleton Woolen Mills is an American textile manufacturing company in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is known for its blankets and woolen clothing.
The company’s roots began in 1863 when Thomas L. Kay made a transcontinental trek to the west coast and began working in Oregon's woolen mills. He went on to open his own woolen mill, the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill in Salem, Oregon. Kay was an immigrant from England and a weaver by trade. He had worked in various textile mills on the east coast of the United States. Before opening his own mill in Salem, he helped to set up only the second mill in Oregon at Brownsville.
Kay brought his oldest daughter, Fannie Kay, into the business and after learning the operation and management of the mill, she became her father’s assistant. In 1876 Fannie married retail merchant C.P. (Charles Pleasant) Bishop. This proved to be a great benefit to Kay’s company and to the Bishop enterprises in the combination of manufacturing and retail sales. The Bishops passed their expertise and knowledge to their three sons: Clarence, Roy, and (Robert) Chauncey.
In 1909 the family moved to Pendleton in northeastern Oregon and took over the defunct Pendleton Woolen Mills. The town of Pendleton backed the family in their new business venture and the Bishops’ company also took over the name Pendleton Woolen Mills. The move to eastern Oregon made sense for the business because eastern Oregon was sheep country and having wool producers near the mills allowed the mills to significantly cut production costs. The town of Pendleton is a major railhead for the Columbia River Plateau and allowed convenient shipping for the growing business. Pendleton photographer Walter S. Bowman captured early 20th century images of the mill's interior, exterior and its workers.
The old mill taken over by the Bishops had been built in 1893 and had been a wool scouring plant where raw wool is scrubbed and packed before shipping out to the textile mills. In 1895 the mill was enlarged and converted into a textile mill and in 1896 began making Native-American blankets—geometric patterned robes (unfringed blankets) for Native-American men and shawls (fringed blankets) for Native-American women in the area—the Umatilla, Cayuse and Walla Walla tribes. That business eventually failed and the plant stood idle until the Bishop family purchased it. When the Bishop assumed ownership, they built a new plant with the help of the town of Pendleton, which issued bonds for the plant's construction.
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