Ashaway Line & Twine Manufacturing Company

200 Trips Around the Sun: Ashaway Line and Twine's Bicentennial Story

Visit the photo gallery from the 200th Anniversary Party

Ashaway Line & Twine was founded in 1824 along the banks of the Ashawog River by Captain Lester Crandall, (pictured left) who manufactured fishing lines for commercial fisherman working off the New England Coast. Over time, he devised and perfected many line-making machines to improve the quality and output of his products.

As his business grew, Captain Lester expanded his operation and upgraded his facilities to maximize and perfect line production, gradually becoming a year round business. As word of his superior lines spread in the region, Ashaway made its first export of tarred cod line to Canada in 1850.

The old line mill

Linewalk production of twisted fishing line for commercial use circa 1900

World Record Broadbill Swordfish (837.5 lbs) caught on Ashaway's 36 thread linen line in Chile, South America
circa 1930

In the early 1900's Ashaway added fresh and salt water sport fishing lines to its product line mix. These original sport fishing lines were braided (Ashaway installed its first braiding machines around 1910) and twisted from silk and linen fibers, and were much thinner and more precise than commercial lines. Then in 1939 Ashaway produced the first synthetic sport fishing line, utilizing DuPont's revolutionary fiber invention called Nylon. For 30 years Ashaway was known as the world's leading fishing line manufacturer and their products were renown worldwide.

In 1949, the 4th generation of the Crandall family invented and patented the world's first synthetic racket string products and processing for tennis, squash, racquetball and badminton, utilizing the same nylon fibers that were braided into sport fishing lines. Soon, Ashaway was the world's leader in synthetic racket string production, shipping their products to more than 50 countries around the world. Racket string production evolved over time with strings tailored to each racket sport made from nylon, aramid, PEEK and other fibers, always utilizing the material best suited to each racket sport application.

1993 Alliance Gathering

Ashaway's racket string production team circa 1993

A well-known Tennis Hall of Famer's rackets strung with Ashaway's Aramid main strings circa 2000

In the 1960's and 1970's Ashaway moved quickly into the medical field, specializing in the production of bulk, non-sterile threads used as raw materials in a wide variety of medical devices such as sutures. Ashaway Line and Twine's stringent quality system made the transition to specialized medical production possible, and helped the medical business grow into the largest segment of the company's production since 2000.

Now in 2024, currently managed by the 7th generation of the Crandall family, Ashaway Line and Twine continues to produce specialized lines for medical and sporting goods applications on the banks of the Ashaway River (originally the Ashawog River). While the first lines in 1824 were bulky and coarse, today's production is much thinner and more precise. Whether a fishing line, a racket string or a medical thread, the line specifications today are very tight and the requirements of the customer very specific. Captain Lester would certainly be proud of the way Ashaway Line & Twine has prospered and adapted to a changing world under the guidance of 7 generations of the Crandall family!

2024 World Squash Champion Diego Elias (first ever from South America) uses Ashaway's UltraNick^® 18 string in his frame

Ashaway - The #1 line, twine and string manufacturer for 200 years!