The Berkshire and Becket Silk Mill Ruins. 1885 Becket’s first silk mill for manufacturing pure silk thread was established along the railroad tracks in North Becket by Samuel K. Smith. In 1890, Smith built a new brick mill next to Yokum Brook, just south of Becket Village. The Berkshire and Becket Silk Company employed over 80 people, many of them women who commuted on the train from Pittsfield. This quality thread was used for sewing, embroidering and crocheting. The company stayed in the Smith family until about 1924 when it was acquired by Collingbourne Mills, Inc. of Illinois. By 1926, production had doubled to 60,000 spools a day, by a work force of 100 people; and the company had increased the number of buildings.

The Berkshire and Becket Silk Company plant was destroyed by the 1927 Flood. The heavy equipment was washed away, there was no insurance and one week later the remaining warehouse was destroyed by fire. Courtesy of the Town of Becket.

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