Mill Company Influence on Consumer Behavior
The degree of influence the mill company had over the material aspects of workers lives, especially workers living outside the village, has yet to be thoroughly explored through archaeology. The Front Street residents, who lived in mill-owned houses, probably made some, if not most, of their household purchases from company-affiliated merchants (Thompson 1984:30). According to recollections of former Schoolfield residents, the Company Store and other businesses sold “just about everything,” including clothing, fabric, shoes, furniture, toys, groceries, medications, and other items. The overall range of goods suggests a high degree of choice, but the true degree of choice compared to outside retailers warrants further study. The transient nature of mill work may have made transporting larger household belongings difficult. The potential for job loss and eviction may have limited the desire of some families to invest too heavily in household furnishings. Clearly, some Front Street residents held onto their jobs in the mill but still moved to other mill houses with frequency. Moves do not seem to be necessarily tied to promotions but nonetheless were probably initiated and/or approved by the company. As mentioned earlier, some families may have swapped house to meet the needs of a growing family, or because of economic considerations. For some families, conditions seemed to have improved once they became homeowners in the years following World War II. Further research may shed light on this aspect of life in the community and the implications it had on the material life of workers.
