Free Republic

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. AYER - With the closing of the Chandler Machine Company, the community has lost a 103-year-old business. Along with it, a bit of Americana is slipping away. The Chandler shop manufactured industrial sewing and stitching machines for customers all over the country. Its hand-operated and electrified sewing machines and button sewers have been used in the garment industry and by dry-cleaning establishments and laundries, its pleating machines by upholsterers and other tradesmen. What finally brought the plant's closure, according to Vice President George Matthews, was foreign competition. With cheaper labor available...