Albert Sack's Grievances

But the financial success of the mill did not translate into the success of the spinners and weaver who worked in the factories. On January 21, 1886, the workers went on strike, shutting down the plant under the influence of the labor organization Knights of Labor. The leader of the strike was a weaver named George Lee, who established a committee in order to formally present the grievances of the shop workers to Albert Sack. The grievances included the formation of a permanent committee in order to present grievances and negotiate terms with Sack, as well as to address the mistreatment of the workers by the mill’s managers. However, the biggest grievance that the committee wanted to address was the wage system. Weavers in the mill were not

Sack died, leaving behind a widow and two sons, as well as a trust in the sum of $24,000 for Alice R.Sack and $8,000 for each of his sons. His obituary read, “ [Sack] came here with nothing, rose through the ranks of New England woolen and worsted manufacturers to establish himself as an industry and civic leader.” Unable to run the mill by herself, Alice sold the mill to Fred S. Peck, the treasurer and executive director of his family’s wool company Asa Peck and company. Peck, born 1868 in Barrington, RI, became an integral part of the government of Providence, eventually serving as Rhode Island’s republican delegate to the House of Representatives. Under him, the Lymansville Company continued to operate even through the Great Depression and World War II, supporting 500 workers in the throws of the depression as the worsted trade began to decline. Finally unable to hold onto the mill due to an increased interest in politics, Peck sold the Lymansville plant to Mack Kahn in its entirety in 1944. Mack Kahn was a prominent figure in the textile industry at the time, owning several textile mills, including Kanmak Mill in Providence, Rhode Island, Amoskeag Mill in Manchester, New Hampshire, and Kanmak Mill in Kulpmont,