" The Cornish Wire factory started with just four employees doing site preparation, but soon it became a major employer in Williamstown with 225 employees in 1943 and roughly 500 employees by the 1950s, rivaling Williams College as the town’s largest employer.  The company provided products to transmission line suppliers and the US military during and after WWII as well as manufactured appliances and electronics. 

With increasing demand for products, the company ran three shifts, operating around the clock.  The company ultimately outgrew the factory and expanded into the Blackington Mill in neighboring North Adams in 1957. 

Cornish Wire was bought by the General Cable Corporation (a nationwide firm based in Providence, RI) in 1960 and the factory remained one of the largest employers in town producing the same products until the 1970s when demand began to wane and employment roles shrank.  In 1984, Carol Cable purchased the property continuing operations at a smaller scale ultimately ceasing manufacturing in 1996. "

http://www.cablemills.com/blog/2015/5/25/history-of-cable-mills