Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates was founded in 1889 as Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company in Adams, Massachusetts. The first mill built by the company was Berkshire Mill No. 1 in Adams. By 1917 the company was capitalized at $2,500,000 and contained over 260,000 ring and mule spindles and 6,500 looms for the production of cotton textiles, making it one of the largest cotton textile companies in the world. In 1929, Berkshire merged with the Valley Falls Company of Rhode Island, and became known as Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates. Its head was Malcolm Greene Chace of the influential Chace family of New England. Malcolm's descendants (his son Malcolm Jr, and grandson Malcolm III) would run the company until 2007.