SANFORD — One hundred years ago today, a giant in Maine’s textile industry ”“ back when there were industrial giants ”“ died.

Thomas Goodall, an Englishman who built a textile empire on the banks of the Mousam River, was 87 years old when he died in his chair, according to news reports of the day.

And while the mills he founded flourish no more, his drive and energy lives on, not only in the familiar spaces he or his family members built or helped build ”“ like Goodall Hospital, Goodall Library and Goodall Park ”“ but in the effort to rekindle that entrepreneurial spark that vaulted a 9-year-old boy to do something more.

“I am inspired every time I look up at the statue of Thomas Goodall in (Central Park) across from Town Hall,” said Les Stevens, executive director of the Sanford Regional Economic Growth Council. “I think the artist captured the essence of the man. He looks boldly ahead, confident in himself and in the future of this community.”

Goodall, of Dewsbury, Yorkshire, was orphaned by age 3. Raised by aunts and uncles, he was very likely not much different than other lads in Victorian England. When Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837, Goodall, then 14, had already been working in the Yorkshire woolen mills for five years.

But Goodall wanted more, and in 1846, when he was 23, he came to the United States, worked in Massachusetts and then moved to Troy, N.H., where he bought an interest in a small mill, according to “A Bicentennial History of Sanford” by Capt. Albert Prosser. 

Goodall began manufacturing horse blankets and parlayed that industry into making blankets for the Union Army during the Civil War. He sold the Troy mill in 1865 and returned to England, but by 1867, he was back in United States, where he set up shop in Sanford, expanding his line to include carriage blankets and mohair plush.

In later years, the Goodall companies produced carpets and draperies and suiting material called Palm Beach cloth. At their peak, Goodall’s mills employed 3,600 people.

“When I think of Thomas Goodall and his era, I see vibrant bustling millyards, a downtown teeming with shops and neighborhoods within walking distance of it all,” said Downtown Legacy President Maura Herlihy. “Thomas Goodall brought jobs, but recognized that work alone does not bring health to a community. He built houses for his workers to buy, built a hospital, library, Town Hall and parks for recreation.

“Most of what he built still stands today, just waiting for new opportunities to bring workers bustling back into our millyard and our downtown.”

Following his death, Goodall’s remains laid in state at Town Hall ”“ a building that he and his companies financed ”“ and his funeral service was held there May 14, 1910. As a mark of respect, the mills were closed that day and the business district closed down shop from 1 to 3 p.m., according to the May 20, 1910 issue of the Sanford Tribune. Even the U.S. Post Office was closed. Hundreds attended the viewing and the funeral.

“Thomas Goodall was a sincere, earnest and honest man,” Rev. E. J. Prescott said at his funeral service.

Local historian Harland Eastman noted Goodall was a man of wide interest and one who was self-educated.

“There is no record of his ever having gone to school,” said Eastman. “He learned to read and write on his own, and his education continued throughout his life. There was almost no subject that did not attract his attention.”

Goodall’s library included an array of volumes on botany, and Eastman said he built a large greenhouse next to the Goodall Mansion on Main Street. His eclectic library included an 1875 English translation of the Koran, and his interests included architecture and history.

“One of the things that I always loved about Thomas Goodall was the fact that he established the Goodall Medal,” said Sanford historian and teacher Paul Auger. “The purpose of the medal was to remind the student (and people in general) that with great gifts come great responsibilities. When we have abilities, we are obliged to use them for the benefit of others, to make our community a better place. Thomas Goodall certainly embodied this belief.”

“When I think of Thomas Goodall, I think not only of the man who created the mills that were the greatest economic engine in Sanford for over 50 years, but also of the man he was,” said Sanford Council Chairman Joseph Hanslip. “He had a great intellectual curiosity about many things. He was supportive of many faiths and enjoyed learning about and experiencing the cultures of different ethnic groups. I think it is interesting that today there are so many possibilities for the revitalization and reuse of the mills that it is likely that within the next several years that they will again be the economic force that Mr. Goodall envisaged.”

Stevens again pointed to the statue in Central Park, which was placed there by the citizens of Sanford in his memory in 1917.

“It is as if he is reminding us that the greater sin is not in making a mistake or failing sometimes, but in not trying,” said Stevens, in part. “He seems to speak to our ”˜better spirits’ still ”¦ down through all the years.”

— Staff Writer Tammy Wells can be contacted at 324-4444 or twells@journaltribune.com.