A sketch of the early days of the woolen industry in North Andover, Massachusetts : an address delivered before the North Andover Historical Society, Feb. 13, 1925

Delivered before the North Andover Historical Society in 1925, this address paints a vivid picture of a town eager to turn its agrarian roots into a thriving manufacturing hub. It begins with an 1787 town vote urging residents to favor home‑grown wool and flax, setting the tone for a community‑wide push toward self‑sufficiency. The narrative quickly introduces the Scholfield brothers, inventive English mechanics whose hand‑operated carding and spinning machines sparked the first real experiments in local textile production.

The speech then follows the modest start of the very first woolen mill in 1802, when James Scholfield bought a water‑powered site and turned a stable room into a weaving workshop. From those early looms to the later stewardship of the Sutton family, the address chronicles four generations of entrepreneurs who shaped North Andover’s industrial identity. Listeners will gain a clear sense of the ambition, setbacks, and lasting community pride that defined the town’s early woolen industry.