The Shifting Economic Base – Seneca Falls, New York

Call me cynical, but when we visited Seneca Falls – the site of the world's first women’s rights convention in 1848 – I couldn’t help feeling that the economic base of the town had shifted from textiles to feminist tourism.

It was only when I returned home that I found out that the old Seneca Knitting Mill, which dates to 1844, is to be the new home of the National Women’s Hall of Fame. The Knitting Mill was owned for over 40 years by the Souhan family. In 1995 the mill was sold to Ridgeview, that closed the mill in 1999 with the loss of some 250 jobs. The owners, who had invested millions of dollars in Seneca Falls, said they couldn’t make a profit on the subsidiary, which specialized in making heavy, woolen socks. In an interview with the Syracuse Post-Standard, Tim Souhan said that in 1999 the economic conditions in Seneca Falls weren’t the greatest. "If there’s a growth industry here, it’s tourism," he added.

The Hall of Fame was founded in 1969 and has some 247 inductees so far. Nine more American women, including House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, will be inducted later this year.