Business & Economics

Amoskeag Manufacturing Company experienced extraordinary growth following its founding in 1831. The complex company developed land and water power and produced rifle muskets for the Union army during the Civil War. America fell in love with the beautiful, long-lasting colors and quality of Amoskeag's iconic gingham. The company's history is one of engineering genius and invention, enlightened city planning and visionary leadership. It is also the story of the workers, including thousands of eager immigrants who came to Manchester seeking economic opportunity and personal freedom. The company struggled through labor disputes and conflicts between economics and altruism. When the doors finally closed in 1936, local business leaders saved the property from abandonment and extended the Amoskeag legacy through a new wave of prosperity. Author Aurore Eaton explores this revolutionary industry and its lasting significance in Manchester.

In 1891, Siegmund Harzfeld and the Parisian Cloak Company introduced a new era of commerce and fashion to the residents of Kansas City. Women no longer needed to make lengthy and expensive appointments with dressmakers to maintain the latest fashion trends; the ready-to-wear movement had begun!
Join historians Joe and Michele Boeckholt as they uncover the story behind Harzfeld's department store, from its first offering of coats, blouses, petticoats, and furs to the beloved Petticoat Lane flagship location and regional network of satellite stores. With archival photographs and memorabilia, personal narratives and interviews, and a wealth of local and historical knowledge, the history of this local landmark franchise is revealed, one seam at a time.

Included in the National Register of Historic Places, the collection of Greek Revival row houses that make up the Linden Row Inn have played a significant role in the history of Richmond, Virginia, for two centuries. As a child, Edgar Allan Poe played in the private garden that occupied this site, and he later courted his first love, Elmira Royster, among the roses and linden trees. During the Civil War, Linden Row was a meeting place for leaders and supporters of the Confederacy; later, it was home to a prestigious girls' school, whose pupils included Irene and Nancy Langhorne, known in later years as the Gibson Girl and Lady Nancy Astor. In 1922, two of the original ten houses were torn down and replaced by the Medical Arts Building. In 1950, local preservationist Mary Wingfield Scott purchased the remaining houses to save them from the wrecking ball, donating them in 1980 to the Historic Richmond Foundation. In 1988, under the supervision of the foundation, seven of the eight remaining houses were renovated and restored to become the Linden Row Inn, which still welcomes travelers today.

Since 1907, one Rockport family have continued to make their timeless soda pop the old-fashioned way. Twin Lights Soda--or tonic, as it's still known locally--was started by second-generation Portuguese immigrants in the back of a small-town family grocer and named after the iconic pair of lighthouses just off the coast of Cape Ann. The bottling industry was one of America's great entrepreneurial endeavors, and at its peak, Twin Lights outsold even the two largest national cola brands in the region. But today, while soft drinks are a $45 billion industry, few independents remain. Authors Paul St. Germain and Dev Sherlock trace the fascinating story of one of the last family bottlers still in operation.