Ludlow Mills Papers

1907 papers on the Ludlow Mills.
1907 wages at the Ludlow Mills.

In the early 1900s, the Ludlow Mills, the world’s largest producer of jute cloth, rope, and twine, was home to many Polish immigrants coming straight from Poland. Fliers advertising jobs at the mills, such as this one from 1907, were sent to Poland. A representative from the F. Missler Shipping Company would travel to villages in Poland hoping to successfully recruit Poles to go to the United States and work in these mills. The front of this page was translated by Stanislaw (Stas) Radosz. It reads; “Ludlow, Massachusetts, to our Polish brethren, is a beautiful town on the Chicopee River with a population of 5,000, including 2,000 Poles.” The flier also included several other things such as the price for renting apartments and wages for different jobs– including for child laborers.                        

Provenance: This artifact was donated around 2008 by a Portuguese man (from Ludlow, MA) and a Polish woman. The papers had been in her possession. (2023)

Photos in a booklet with Saint Elizabeth Parish and Immaculate Conception Churches.
The Church on the left is Saint Elizabeth Parish in Ludlow. On the right is Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Indian Orchard, which was built by Polish immigrants in 1904 and still holds masses in Polish.

Author: Stephanie Afonso, History major, Elms College.