This week’s story is intentionally shorter to allow for a larger display of the photograph. Many thanks to Shelia Marshall for sharing this wonderful glimpse into Stuart’s history! While we’ve only been able to identify one individual in the photo—Walter Lee Penn, Jr., president of Stuart Knitting Company Inc.—we’re hoping that folks will recognize friends, family members, or even themselves. Penn appears on the far left.
According to an article in the Martinsville Bulletin dated November 19, 1945, the Stuart Knitting Company was established with a capital stock of $100,000, all of which had already been sold. The company was organized by industrialists from both Martinsville and Stuart. Its officers included Walter Lee Penn, Jr. as president; Dr. William Nash Thompson of Stuart as vice-president; and J. Coates Carter as secretary and treasurer. The factory planned to produce children’s underwear and outerwear.
Walter Lee Penn, Jr. was the son of Walter Penn and Caroline Lightfoot Lee Dillard of Starling Avenue in Martinsville. He attended Hampden-Sydney College, and upon graduation, began working at Pannill Knitting Company in Martinsville.
In June 1939, Penn married Miss Sallie Edmund Hubard (yes, spelled with only one “b”) of Fayetteville, West Virginia. Once Penn launched the Stuart Knitting Company, he and Sallie moved to Sunset Drive in Stuart, where they raised two sons, Walter Penn III and Robert Hubard Penn.
The plant was purchased by Pannill Knitting Company in 1959 and ran like gangbusters until it was sold to Sara Lee Knit Products of Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1988. I went to work at Bassett-Walker Knitting in 1982 and still remember the traffic jams in downtown Stuart—workers heading to and from Pannill’s, United Elastic (J.P. Stevens), Stuart Lumber (Masonite/International Paper), and Bassett-Walker.
In October 1991, the Patrick County Industrial Development Authority (IDA) entered into a lease agreement with Eco Knit Inc., a company that produced socks at the factory. Then, in December 1993, Bengle Manufacturing Company — a “cut and sew” apparel operation specializing in sweatshirts — purchased the building.
We hope someone out there will recognize a relative, a friend, or maybe even themselves in the photograph and reach out to let us know. Woody can be contacted at rockcastlecreek1@gmail.com or (276) 692-9626.
