Peerless Woolen Mills was a subsidiary of Burlington Industries which maintained plants in Cleveland, Tennessee, Rossville, Georgia, and Tifton, Georgiabetween 1951 - 1961. Burlington Industries closed the two Georgia production sitesin 1961.
The textile maker made a large addition to an existing mill in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1925. At this time the Tennessee city was the second largest producer of hosiery in the United States.[1]
Peerless Woolen Mills built a new manufacturing plant in Cleveland, Tennessee in 1955. Formerly it operated in buildings leased from Hardwick Woolen Mills, starting in 1951. A 250000square feet plant, the new facility was engaged in preparing weaving and finishing operations. It opened in February 1956.[2]
The Rossville operation was liquidated and the Tifton plant was sold to the J.P. Stevens Textile Corporation.[3] In November 1961 a Federal judge ruled that Burlington Industries could close the Peerless Plant in Rossville without engaging in collective bargaining with a union there. He denied a National Labor Relations Board injunction. The NLRB had asked for the injunction when members of the Allied Industrial Workers contended the mill was being shut down to avoid collective bargaining.[4] In November 1961, the NLRB studied whether to appeal the judge's ruling because the company's union won the right to represent workers in August 1961, a month before the plant was closed down.[5]