The Fabric of the Past: Thomas Kay Woolen Mill

The Willamette Heritage Center in Salem has early settlement homes  and the Thomas Kay Woolen Mill, which you can walk through.  The mill was founded in 1889 by Thomas Kay and produced fine woolen blankets and fabrics.  It was managed by four generations of the Kay family and operated continuously until 1962.  It is the only woolen mill museum in the western United States and has a water powered turbine capable of generating electricity from the millrace.

The mill is clean, quiet.  The 19th and early 20th Century equipment still in working order.  The wooden carts and tools stand ready, as if they had been stopped because of a lunch break that was almost over.  There is a museum attendant, in period costume who will turn on the weaving machine and bring it to life.

There are large wheels and wide belts slowly moving through out the mill.  The water power still providing the energy to turn raw fleeces into fine wool fabric.

Walking down the long open work spaces of the mill is a walk back into our industrial heritage.  You can almost hear the machines pull, twist or ply the wool into shape.  The floor shows the memory of all the water used.  Through the light from tall round topped windows you can image the floating dust.

The 2nd floor of the mill shows the process from fleece to carding to spinning to weaving.  The ground floor shows the process of turning the first woven fabric into finished blankets and fine cloth.  And as you stroll, there are wheels slowly turning and belts silently moving ready have a gear lowered to once again engage them in the making of real, useful, necessary products.

It is good to look at what we made and how we made it and to reflect on what we are making these days.