In the 19th century, knitters from the Midlands of England, made poor by the increasing flow of work into factories, brought their craft to America. Many of them settled in Highlandville, a village ofNeedham. Working out of their homes, they knitted socks, mittens,
gloves, underwear, and jackets, using hand- and foot-operated frame machines they brought from England. The more enterprising of them, like William Carter, John Moseley, and Joseph Thorpe, built large mills using steam-powered machinery. The knitters carried the quiet farming town of Needham into the industrial age, attracting...