150-Year-Old Bowl Mill
Closes Its Doors
By Martha Slater

Last summer, the Granville Manufacturing Company, known locally as "the bowl mill," celebrated its 150^th anniversary. Last week, company management announced that, due to tough economic realities, the bowl manufacturing part of the business would close down, and nine full-time employees would lose their jobs.

Bowl mill manager Cindy Fuller told the Herald that the employees were laid-off for six weeks earlier this year, then came back for two weeks, and "then we got everyone together to tell them about the closing Monday, March 24. Many of these people have been with us for over 20 years, so they know this business and they weren’t shocked—although, of course, they were pretty upset."

"We have stopped turning bowls so no new wood is coming in," Fuller explained, "but we’re still finishing producing an inventory of bowls to be sold." She said all nine workers are still on the job, but estimated that there would be only one to two months of work left for the staff.

"We’re currently working with our regular customers to meet their needs and several of them will buy a significant chunk of our inventory," Fuller added. "Because bowls are such a big part of their business, we’re trying to help them as much as they’re helping us."

Although the bowl manufacturing will cease, the building materials division of the business will continue to operate for the foreseeable future, and Kristi and Jeff Fuller will work in the sales office. No actual manufacturing will take place on-site, since that part of the business involves the company acting as a broker between mills and homeowners. The bowl mill store will also continue to be open to sell off the backlog of bowls and other items.

Since its founding in 1857, the company has produced unique one-piece hardwood bowls utilizing the technology and machinery of the 19^th century. In addition to creating 35,000-40,000 of its trademark bowls each year, the business also manufactured lazy Susans, and more than 100,000 board feet of quarter-sawn clapboard siding annually.

Located on a 55-acre site on the main branch of the White River bordering the Green Mt. National Forest, the mill contains the original machinery designed in the mid-1800s, now run by electricity instead of waterpower. In the century and a half since its inception, the mill has been owned and operated by only four families. The business was begun by the Hemenway family in Ludlow, where the bowl lathe was designed and patented. The mill then relocated to Warren, remaining there until a fire in 1878, until it was rebuilt at its present home in Granville in 1879.

In 1913, the Rice family bought the mill from the Hemenways, and operated it for 60 years, before selling it to the Howlett family in 1972. Bob and Carol Fuller bought the mill in 1980 and brought up their family there. The "kids," siblings Jeff, Cindy and Doug, and Doug’s wife, Kristi, currently run the business.

The tough economic times that have hit the wood industry, particularly New England loggers, are one of the major factors in the mill closure. Another is the high cost required for a company to become certified as "green," something that Fuller points out her company already is.

"We’ve been here 150 years and we use a natural material that is grown locally and is renewable, and all our waste products are re-used," Fuller said. "The bowl shells are sold for firewood and the sawdust for animal bedding. Why do we need to get certified by someone else when the state already has this current use program that makes landowners have a forestry plan and encourages logging? I object to the market forcing us to do something else when the state is already acting responsibly. We’re not the only ones affected by this. It’s putting other people out of business, too."

Fuller also pointed out that, "The forest grows at a greater rate than what is harvested. We now have 80% forestland and 20% open land here in Vermont—the exact opposite of 150 years ago when our business began."

Fuller said her family’s biggest concern is the welfare of the mill’s employees.

"It’s a family-owned business, but the employees are our family, too, and we take care of them," Fuller said. "We want to make sure that all of our employees are actually looking for work while we’re going through this process. We’re actively helping them look for work by using the jobsinvt.com web site and helping them write resumes, etc. so they can enter the job market. The state’s Dept. of Employment and Training is coming April 3 to speak with everyone and we’re trying to get the department to help with funding re-training for our employees."

"We’ve owned this company for 28 years and it’s our livelihood, too," Fuller concluded. "We wish there was some way we could change the way things are, but we want to act responsibly with our employees and vendors and be able to pay off our bills. This is the only way we can see to do that with dignity. It’s very sad for all of us."