Bancroft Mills

• Since 1889: Joseph Bancroft and Sons Company

• American

The Bancroft Mills laboratory revolutionized the whole concept of fabric usage when it produced a synthetic resin which allowed for crease resistance with a minimum of loss in fabric strength. With the subsequent emphasis on synthetic fibers for textiles, the company also produced a first by texturing a man-made fiber. These accomplishments, which provided America with such household words as Hollands and mercerizing and later added Sunfast, Everfast, and Banlon" to international vocabulary, represents a long-time mill history which ranges from the rise of the factory system through "laissez-faire" and into the era of government intervention in industry. - NRHP