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The Citizen, 1994-09-21, Page 16PAGE 16. THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1994. Franklin Bainton led Bainton Limited to prominence The death of his father and his uncle thrust Franklin Bainton into leadership of Bainton Limited at the tender age of 24. Over the next nearly 60 years, however, he was to prove that his early start was Just an opportunity to make a bigger mark on the company. Franklin Bain ton: lead company for nearly 60 years Born in Blyth on November 4, 1910, the son of Allan Bert Bainton and the former Amanda Dolly Totten, he took over a large part of the running of what was then called the Blyth Woollen Mills, at age 20 when his father died in 1930. Just four years later his uncle Frank Bainton Sr. died and he was left on his own to run the business. It was the height of the Great Depression. Workers at the plant earned $2 a day for working six days a week, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. In 1935 Franklin was married and his wife Cenetta Joined the business. In 1938 their daughter Glenyce was bom. The outbreak of World War II brought a growing demand for wool and the Depression was left behind. In 1946 Franklin expanded the original building on Westmoreland Street in Blyth, adding a three storey building on the east and north side of the original old mill. He also refaced the front of the original building with red brick. The original inside wall still exists. e increased the production since he now bought skins from the meat packing industry all across Canada, from Prince Albert, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. At that time Bainton's were processing approximately 5,000 skins per week. As production increased sewage treatment became a problem. Before the Canadian Pacific Railway came through Blyth in 1907, the Blyth creek flowed just behind the building. A well just was used for the water supply for processing and the creek was used for drainage. When the C.P.R. bought the land for the railway from Bainton Brothers they changed the course of the Blyth Creek, moving it north to the location it runs through today and granting drainage rights to Bainton Brothers. This became a problem because more and more people were installing indoor toilets and building septic tanks and the drainage from the tanks saturated the ground and found its way to the creek. Blame for the problems in the creek were, however, laid at the door of just two sources, the Blyth cheese factory and Bainton Limited. Both plants built sewage treatment tanks and irrigation systems but the problem still didn't clear up. At one point Franklin Bainton was charged with water pollution but he proved that the pollution coming from village storm drains was worse than his own. Still, he realized something must be done and when Blyth ratepayers turned down a vote for a municipal sewage treatment plant in 1963, he realized he had to move the processing operation out of the village. In 1958 he had purchased the former George Sloan farm from Chester Morrison. It was located a mile south and east of Blyth in Hullett Township. In 1963 he moved the tannery and wool pulling operation to the farm where The famous Bainton Old Mill was much smaller as late as 1938 when local youngters posed near it. a 13-acre site provided room for a treatment lagoon system. The old, downtown building remained as office, warehouse and retail space until the retail side of the business expanded so rapidly that the entire main floor of the building was turned over to retailing of wool and leather Products. As business boomed, a second modem processing plant was built in 1979, adjacent to the 1963 plant in Hullett Twp. As well as guiding the expansion of Bainton Limited, Franklin was active in the community, serving as village reeve from 1946-49. He was a charter member of the Blyth and District Lions Club and was president in 1948-49. In 1987 he and Cenetta were chosen Citizens of the Year for Blyth and area. On December 22, 1992 Franklin Bainton, aged 82, collapsed at his office. It was perhaps fitting that he died at work at the company he had devoted his life to building to international prominence. 0 Fourth generation of Bainton family assumes ownership As the second century begins for Bainton's Old Mill, a fourth generation has assumed leadership. In 1987 Franklin Bainton turned over the retail outlet operation to their grandchildren, Franklin, Jayne, Amanda and Richard (Jr.) Snell, children of Glenyce and Richard Snell who operate The Old Mill south of town. (The same year Bainton's expanded eastward to the shores of Nova Scotia when Franklin Bainton's Gordon opened Tannery historic Franklin Snell: a new generation comes to the job with a tradition of quality in the leather business industry. cousin, Totten, Bainton's Outlet in Annapolis Royal.) Having grown up with the leather and woollen business, the young generation brought tradition as well as their youthful energy and enthusiasm to the company. Each pursued post -secondary university studies. Amanda (left) and Jayne, in charge Richard trained lor Of the retail part of the business two years at Nene College, Northampton, England in the faculty of Science in Leather Technology. He and Franklin are involved in the tannery operation in Hullett Township. Franklin also serves as President of Bainton's Old Mill and Richard as a director.. Jayne (Snell) Marquis, is now store manager and secretary­ treasurer for Bainton's Old Mill. Amanda serves as a director of the company as well as being involved in the retail operation. Both have extensive backgrounds in the fashion Industry. All four members of the family appear as models in advertisements for the company's products from time to time. That family tradition gives family members an advantage over er merchants of wool and leather, Jayne said in a recent interview. When they go on uying trips they know quality in leather and wool because they've been surrounded with it all their lives. They know a price difference why there is between different types of leathers and wools. That's what makes it so unique and so exciting to work here." A great many of the garments sold at Bainton’s Old Mill come from the Bainton Limited tannery. Leather is graded at the tannery into qualities suitable for coats, jackets, gloves, hats, handbags and moccasins. The leather suitable for garments is sent to one of four garment factories in Toronto. Other leathers are sent to Kitchener and Quebec for glove manufacturing, while another grade of leather is made into hats and suitable grades are used for handbags and moccasins. They're returned to Blyth where they become part of the huge inventory that draws shoppers from all over southern Ontario. With quality products and the energy of a youthful new generation, the company seems well placed to enjoy as strong a second century as it did the first.0 Richard Snell Jr.: (seen with his sister Jayne) studied leather technology in England.