Pool Manufacturing Company
Sherman, Grayson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Originally chartered September 20, 1909, as Sherman Overall Manufacturing Company. First machinery was secured from a glove manufacturer and placed in the Birge-Forbes Building on East Lamar Street. Company was purchased in August 1911, by R. F. Pool and son, Carl; in following years, expansion led to use of several separate buildings in downtown Sherman. Named changed to Pool Manufacturing Company in 1925. In December 1928, plant was moved to this site with 60,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Originally manufacturing overalls, they later added work pants, work shirts, and matched uniforms; all bearing the Pools "Swetpruf" brand, an important first in the industry being a color-fast khaki. Pool was leader in the practice of preshrinking fabrics before manufacture; this was before Sanforization. In the early 1930s Pool introduced the original army Cramerton cloth, basic fabric still used by U. S. Armed Forces. Carl Pool began and developed application of modern day industrial engineering to manufacture of garments. Further expansion recently has put Pool into the field of manufacturing sports clothes. Market area now extends to the Pacific Coast and some foreign countries. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Chartered in Sherman in 1909 as the Sherman Overall Manufacturing Company, this maker of workwear was bought by R. F. Pool and his son Carl in 1911 and renamed Pool Manufacturing in 1925. The firm pioneered preshrinking fabric before Sanforization and introduced the durable Cramerton army cloth still used by the U.S. armed forces, all under its color-fast 'Swetpruf' khaki brand. Carl Pool helped bring modern industrial engineering to garment making as the company grew into a multi-building operation shipping nationwide.
Why it matters
This factory shows how a small Texas garment maker became an innovator in American textile manufacturing, shaping the durable workwear and military cloth that clothed workers and soldiers alike.
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Related people
- · R. F. Pool
- · Carl Pool
Themes & tags
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