82% wool 18% cotton blanket. Blanket features a historical pattern from the Native American archives in brilliantly vivid colors, and a soft black edging around the perimeter. Part of Pendleton's Heritage Collection.
Thomas Kay, a young English weaver traveled to Oregon in 1863 and helped organize Oregon's second woolen mill in Brownsville, where he oversaw the weaving operation. In 1889, Thomas Kay opened his own mill in Salem, Oregon. Thomas Kay's eldest daughter, Fannie, learned the mill business and ably assisted her father in mill operation and management. When she married retail merchant C.P. Bishop, a complementary combination of merchandising and manufacturing expertise emerged - a solid foundation for what was to become Pendleton Woolen Mills. This dual textile-retail heritage was passed on to the three Bishop sons, Clarence, Roy and Chauncey. In 1909, with family and town backing, the Bishop sons started up an idle mill in Pendleton, Oregon. |
