Berkshire Hathaway traces its roots to which textile company founded in 1839?

Berkshire Hathaway traces its roots to the Valley Falls Company, a textile company founded in 1839. Oliver Chace founded and reorganized the company at Valley Falls, Rhode Island, along the Blackstone River.

The Valley Falls operation was part of the region’s early cotton-textile industry. Chace had worked with industrial pioneer Samuel Slater before organizing mills of his own. The company later expanded through acquisitions and became one of the antecedents of the modern Berkshire organization.

In 1929, the Valley Falls Company combined with the Berkshire Manufacturing Company of Adams, Massachusetts, and other interests to form Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates. That textile business later merged with Hathaway Manufacturing, creating Berkshire Hathaway in 1955. Although Buffett transformed the company decades later, its name and corporate lineage preserve this New England textile origin.