The North Pownal Tannery

The North Pownal Tannery was an important economic business in Pownal from the 1930s to 1980s. Although the Tannery was decommissioned in 1988 and designated as a Superfund site in 1999, the Tannery was a locus of community life where a sense of family was cultivated between workers. One former Tannery worker, Diane Murphy, shared her experience of working in the Tannery.

In 1935, a nineteenth century woolen mill located between Route 346 and the Hoosic River in North Pownal was converted into the North Pownal Tannery. Part of the 28-acre site was a facility for hide tanning and finishing owned by the Pownal Tanning Co., which was active until 1988 when it declared bankruptcy and closed because of the threat of fines from the VT Agency of Environmental Conservation. Between 1937 and 1962, the Tannery discharged untreated wastewater into the Hoosic River, contaminating the site. Although a lagoon system to receive Tannery wastewater was constructed from 1962 to 1971 and a landfill created in 1982 for dredged up sludge from the lagoons, which was quickly filled. The site was placed on the EPA National Priorities List (NPL) in January 1999 and cleared for redevelopment in 2004. This area has been converted into the Strobridge Recreation Center.

“Pownal Tannery Site Profile,” EPA (Environmental Protection Agency, October 20, 2017), https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.cleanup&id=0101463.

Stories from a former worker: Diane Murphy

Born in 1942, Diane Murphy grew up in Williamstown and moved to North Pownal where she worked in the Tannery between 1960 and 1969. At the Tannery, Diane carried out a multitude of tasks from sorting to hanging to softening and quality checking the sheep and cow hides. The hides came in by train straight from the slaughterhouse and left as finished products by trailer car and by train, after being processed. The tanning process involved several intricate steps and used toxic chemicals that were discarded into the Hoosic River, which Diane recalled people believed to be a “cleansing agent” in her early years working there. The Tannery was also responsible for the construction of the Fire Department and was involved in managing the water supply for many houses in North Pownal.

As a young woman at the time of her employment, Diane remembers the work to be physically demanding and fast-paced, requiring teamwork. Collaboration was the spirit of the Tannery, though, as many of the employees were family or at least acting as such. Diane described the Tannery as a family oriented place, with the workers’ kids popping in after school and their dogs napping on the millroom floors. Diane actually began working at the Tannery when her oldest daughter was six weeks old and worked through three pregnancies.

The sense of community was one aspect of the Tannery that Diane emphasized. Beginning work at 7:00 in the morning and ending at 3:30 in the afternoon, with a midday lunch break, the Tannery workers spent most of the day in the facility. Many of the workers worked for many years and lived nearby, if not in North Pownal then in Adams, MA or Petersburg, NY. Diane lived in North Pownal right up the hill from the Tannery, making her commute short and convenient. Because of this close proximity with around half of the workers living in North Pownal, according to Diane, the workers congregated when they finished work, often grabbing a beer and drinking outside the convenience store next to the Tannery at the 3:30 mill whistle that signalled the end of the work day. Life in North Pownal was centered around the Tannery, with the convenience store right next door.​​ The store provided workers with everything they needed from food to clothes to candy and beer to ammunition and gasoline. On pay-day, checks were also cashed at the store. After going through a divorce, Diane decided to leave the Tannery and eventually leave North Pownal, seeking community elsewhere. She went on to work on a chicken farm where she ended up meeting her current husband, Lawrence Murphy; the couple currently resides in Williamstown (2021).

If you have any connections to, stories about, or photographs of the Tannery, feel free to contact us!