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HISTORY OF BATES
In 1850, the Boston Industrialist Benjamin Bates formed Bates Manufacturing Company, a textile mill in Lewiston, Maine. This textile mill contributed largely in the transformation of a small agricultural village to a large industrial city. In less than 10 years, this had become one of the largest textile producers of New England. The first bedspread woven by Bates was in 1858. Beginning in 1915, Bates bought some new looms, permitting the company to weave a greater variety of bedspreads, such as jacquads, crochets, satins, brocades, damasks and Ripplette. They continued developing new styles, at the same time rediscovering old methods of weaving, lost for generations. The terry toweling and rib cord cloth were introduced in 1940. The famous Matelasse bedspreads were added to the Bates collection at the beginning of the 1950's. Since then Bates of Maine has become one of the great producers in the world of woven bedspreads.