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Since about 1812 — the year when Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution, sank the British frigate the Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia in the War of 1812 — a textile plant in the central Massachusetts town of Webster has been churning out cloth. At one time it wove the fabric. These days, instead of weaving, it prints various patterns on cloth woven in China. On Friday, Cranston Print Works, which has defied the odds for decades, will close. In so doing, it gives up the title of the oldest textile plant still operating in the country. The plant, which still rolls out 20 million yards of printed cloth a year for people who sew at home, once employed more than 700 people. But as it follows other companies and shifts fabric-printing operations overseas, the 72 production workers remaining after decades of attrition will lose their jobs. Forty-five people will stay on in warehouse, distribution and administrative positions in Webster. Generations of families worked at Cranston Print; there were courtships, marriages and babies. Among the workers is Francis Burke, who says the plant has been in his family’s blood for seven decades. “My father before me was superintendent of this print division,” Burke says. “I’ve had uncles work here also, some of them have retired from here. So yes, it is in my blood, I guess you could say. And the company has supported me; my children have gotten scholarships to go to college from the company. In hindsight, it is part of my family. The majority of my life is spent here.” Burke has been here for 35 years. He closes out his career as a screen printer. With his ink-splotched hands and shirt, we speak on a catwalk aside a 60-foot-long machine printing designs on cloth. On this day, running over and under 11 furiously spinning rollers, is a floral Christmas design that will hit the stores in July. Link: Read the article
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