1932

Wayne Knitting Mills Statue

Wayne Knitting Mills was established in 1891 by Theodore F. Thieme to manufacture "full-fashioned hosiery." The company was one of the largest employers of young women at this time. During World War I, the factory produced fifty thousand standard issue woolen army socks, and organized drum corps and marching bands as well as a girls' chorus called the "Knittingales" to help boost morale. As early as the 1920s, most of its employees were female, and the company's buildings included a dormitory for female workers who had come from rural areas and small towns. Women worked as "transfer girls" and "loopers," and used less complicated knitting machines than those used by the male knitters. This statue was an advertisement for Wayne Knitting Mills and was probably used as part of a sales display for stockings. Made from plaster and covered with copper leaf, the hand painted statue is of a red haired woman in a green dress draped back to reveal her stockings. It is marked "Wayne Knit Hosiery 1932."