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1830
That's 190 years ago, when America's oldest outdoor clothing brand was founded as a woolen mill along Plum Run, east of Lock Haven, by English immigrants John Rich and Daniel McCormick, who took horse and buggy from town to town to sell woolen yarn and fabric.
Rich bought out McCormick in 1845 and created John Rich & Son.
The operation was expanded and moved to the town that would become known as Woolrich.
Rich took one of his sons into the business seven years later.
Woolrich made army blankets during the Civil War.
Other Rich family members bought and sold shares in the business.
By 1888, when it became a partnership of three brothers, the town surrounding the mill was known as Woolrich,
The Rich family sustained and grew the company over the decades, holding majority ownership, building a huge workforce -- it peaked at 3,000 in the late 1980s -- and bringing global recognition to Woolrich-brand clothing and to the little village in Pine Creek Township that bears the company's name.
As the apparel industry changed rather drastically -- with clothing makers shifting manufacturing to overseas and closing bricks and mortar operations in the U.S. -- the family sold majority interest to W.P. Lavori of Italy, which then sold majority interest to L-GAM Advisers, an investment company based in Luxembourg in Europe about five years ago.
And now, while we're sure Woolrich Inc. will continue selling outdoor clothing here in the U.S. and globally while under foreign ownership, the iconic company's roots in Woolrich are going away.
L-GAM obscurely announced through a marketing email this week that it's holding a liquidation sale May 18-21 at the Woolrich Outlet Store on Park Avenue, then an online auction of equipment through May 11 before closing the store by the end of June.
That means, dear readers, the loss of the last remaining company operation and workforce in the village.
How sad.
As of this year, only three Woolrich stores remained in North America: The spot of the original mill in Woolrich and two stores in New York at SoHo and Woodbury.
While we acknowledge that change is evitable, we implore local leaders to work diligently with Woolrich owners to try to salvage the company's presence here.
190 years means something.